THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 


GIFT  OF 

Estate  of 
Ernst  and  Eleanor 
van  Ll5ben  Sels 


PROBLEMS 
OF  EXPANSION 


PROBLEMS 
OF  EXPANSION 

AS  CONSIDERED  IN 
PAPERS  AND  ADDRESSES 


BY 


WHITELAW  REID 


NEW  YORK 

THE  CENTURY  CO. 

1900 


Copyright,  1898, 1900,  by 
The  Cbntubt  Co. 


LOAN  STACK 
GIFT 


THE  DEVtNNE  PRESS. 


PREFATORY  NOTE 

SO  general  have  been  the  expressions  as  to 
the  value  of  these  scattered  papers  and 
addresses  that  I  have  thought  it  a  useful 
service  to  gather  them  together  from  the 
authorized  publications  at  the  time,  or,  in 
some  cases,  from  newspaper  reports,  and 
(with  the  consent  of  the  Century  Co.  and  of 
Mr.  John  Lane  for  the  copyrighted  arti- 
cles) to  embody  them  consecutively,  in  the 
order  of  their  several  dates,  in  this  volume. 

The  article  entitled  "The  Territory  with 
which  We  are  Threatened'^  was  prepared 
before  the  appointment  of  its  author  as 
a  member  of  the  Commission  to  negotiate 
terms  of  peace  with  Spain,  and  published 
only  a  few  days  afterward.  This  circum- 
stance attracted  unusual  attention  to  its 
views  about  retaining  the  territory  the 
country  had  taken. 

As  to  the  attitude  of  every  one  else  con- 
nected officially  with  the  determination  of 
that  question  there  has  been,  naturally, 
more  or  less  diplomatic  reserve;  but  the 
position  of  Mr.  Reid  before  he  was  appointed 
was  thus  clearly  revealed.    When  the  storm 


216 


VI  PREFATORY    NOTE 

of  opposition  was  apparently  reaching  its 
height,  in  June,  1899,  he  took  occasion  to 
avow  explicitly  the  course  it  was  obvious  he 
must  have  recommended.  In  his  address 
at  the  Seventy-fifth  Anniversary  of  Miami 
University,  referring  to  some  apparently 
authorized  despatches  on  the  subject  from 
Washington,  he  said:  "I  readily  take  the 
time  which  hostile  critics  consider  unfavor- 
able, for  accepting  my  own  share  of  respon- 
sibility, and  for  avowing  for  myself  that  I 
declared  my  belief  in  the  duty  and  policy  of 
holding  the  whole  Philippine  Archipelago  in 
the  very  first  conference  of  the  Commission- 
ers in  the  President's  room  at  the  White 
House,  in  advance  of  any  instructions  of 
any  sort.  If  vindication  for  it  be  needed,  I 
confidently  await  the  future." 

This  measure  of  responsibility  for  the 
expansion  policy  upon  which  the  country  is 
launched  has  necessarily  given  special  inter- 
est to  Ml-.  Eeid's  subsequent  discussions  of 
the  various  problems  it  has  raised.  They 
have  been  called  for  on  important  occasions 
both  abroad  and  in  all  parts  of  our  own  coun- 
try. They  have  covered  many  phases  of  the 
subject,  but  have  preserved  a  singular  uni- 
formity of  purpose  and  consistency  of  ideas 
throughout.  They  appeared  at  times  when 
public  men  often  seemed  to  be  groping  in 
the  dark  on  an  unknown  road,  but  it  is  now 


PEEFATOEY    NOTE  VU 

evident  that  the  road  which  has  been  taken  is 
substantially  the  road  they  marked  out.  As 
a  foreign  critic  said  in  comment  on  one  of 
the  addresses :  "  The  author  is  one  man  who 
knows  what  he  thinks  about  the  new  policy 
required  by  the  new  situation  in  which  his 
country  is  placed,  and  has  the  courage  and 
candor  to  say  it." 

It  has  seemed  desirable  with  each  paper 
and  address  to  prefix  a  brief  record  of  the 
circumstances  under  which  it  was  made. 
A  few  memoranda  which  Mr.  Reid  had  pre- 
pared to  elucidate  the  text  are  added,  in 
foot-notes  and  in  the  Appendices  which  in- 
clude the  Eesolutions  of  Congress  as  to 
Cuba,  the  Protocol  of  Washington,  and  the 
text  of  the  Peace  of  Paris. 

C.  C.  BUEL. 
New  Rochelle,  New  York, 
May  25,  1900. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

I.  The  Territory  with  which  We  are 
Threatened 1 

In  "  The  Century,"  September,  1898. 

II.  Was  It  too  Good  a  Treaty?    ...    25 

At  the  Lotos  Club,  New  York,  February  11,  1899. 

III.  Purport  of  the  Treaty 35 

At  the  Marquette  Club,  Chicago,  February  13,  1899. 

rv.  The  Duties  of  Peace 53 

At  the  Ohio  Society  dinner,  New  York,  February  25, 
1899. 

V.  The  Open  Door 65 

At  the  dinner  of  the  American- Asiatic  Association, 
New  York,  February  23,  1899. 

VI.  Some  Consequences  of  the  Treaty 

OF  Paris 71 

From  "  The  Anglo-Saxon  Review,"  June,  1899. 

VII.  Our  New  Duties    ., 109 

Address  at  the  Seventy-fifth  Anniversary  of  Miami 
University,  June  15,  1899. 

vni.  Later  Aspects  of  our  New  Duties  161 

At  Princeton  University,  on  Commemoration  Day, 
October  21, 1899. 

IX.  A  Continental  Union 199 

At  the  Massachusetts  Club,  Boston,  March  3,  1900. 
ix 


X  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

X.  Our  New  Interests 221 

At  the  University  of  California,  on  Charter  Day, 
March  23,  1900. 

XI.  "Unofficial  Instructions"     ....  259 

At  the  Farewell  Banquet  to  the  Philippine  Com- 
mission, San  Francisco,  April  12,  1900. 

APPENDICES 

1.  Power  to  Acquire  and  Govern  Terri- 

tory   271 

2.  The  Tariff  in  United  States  Terri- 

tory   277 

3.  The  Resolutions  of  Congress  as  to 

Cuba 280 

4.  The  Protocol  of  Washington    .    .    .282 

5.  The  Peace  of  Paris 285 


THE  TERRITORY  WITH  WHICH  WE 
ARE  THREATENED 


This  paper  first  appeared  in  "  The  Century  Magazine"  for 
September,  1898,  for  which  it  was  written  some  time  before 
the  author's  appointment  as  a  member  of  the  Paris  Com- 
mission to  negotiate  the  terms  of  peace  with  Spain,  and,  in 
fact,  before  hostilities  had  been  suspended  or  the  peace 
protocol  agreed  upon  in  Washington. 


THE  TEEEITOEY  WITH  WHICH  WE 
ARE   THREATENED 


MEN  are  everywhere  asking  what  should 
be  our  course  about  the  territory  con- 
quered in  this  war.  Some  inquire  merely 
if  it  is  good  policy  for  the  United  States  to 
abandon  its  continental  limitations,  and  ex- 
tend its  rule  over  semi-tropical  countries 
with  mixed  populations.  Others  ask  if  it 
would  not  be  the  wisest  policy  to  give  them 
away  after  conquering  them,  or  abandon 
them.  They  say  it  would  be  ruinous  to 
admit  them  as  States  to  equal  rights  with 
ourselves,  and  contrary  to  the  Constitution 
to  hold  them  permanently  as  Territories.  It 
would  be  bad  policy,  they  argue,  to  lower 
the  standard  of  our  population  by  taking  in 
hordes  of  West  Indians  and  Asiatics;  bad 
policy  to  run  any  chance  of  allowing  these 
people  to  become  some  day  joint  arbiters 
with  ourselves  of  the  national  destinies ;  bad 
policy  to  abandon  the  principles  of  Wash- 
ington's Farewell  Address,  to  which  we  have 
adhered  for  a  century,   and  involve  our- 


2  PKOBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

selves  in  the  Eastern  question,  or  in  the 
entanglements  of  European  politics. 

The  men  who  raise  these  questions  are 
sincere  and  patriotic.  They  are  now  all 
loyally  supporting  the  Government  in  the 
prosecution  of  the  war  which  some  of  them 
were  active  in  bringing  on,  and  others  to  the 
last  deprecated  and  resisted.  Their  doubts 
and  difficulties  deserve  the  fairest  considera- 
tion, and  are  of  pressing  importance. 

Duty  First,  BuT  is  there  not  another  question,  more 
not  Policy,  impoi'tant,  which  first  demands  considera- 
tion? Have  we  the  right  to  decide  whether 
we  shall  hold  or  abandon  the  conquered  ter- 
ritory, solely  or  even  mainly  as  a  matter 
of  national  policy!  Are  we  not  bound  by 
our  own  acts,  and  by  the  responsibility  we 
have  voluntarily  assumed  before  Spain,  be- 
fore Europe,  and  before  the  civilized  world, 
to  consider  it  first  in  the  light  of  national 
duty! 

For  that  consideration  it  is  not  needful 
now  to  raise  the  question  whether  we  were 
in  every  particular  justifiable  for  our  share 
in  the  transactions  leading  to  the  war. 
However  men's  opinions  on  that  point  may 
differ,  the  Nation  is  now  at  war  for  a  good 
cause,  and  has  in  a  vigorous  prosecution  of 
it  the  loyal  and  zealous  support  of  all  good 
citizens. 


TEKRITOEY  WE  ARE  THREATENED  WITH       3 

The  President  intervened,  with  our  Army 
and  Navy,  under  the  direct  command  of 
Congress,  to  put  down  Spanish  rule  in 
Cuba,  on  the  distinct  ground  that  it  was 
a  rule  too  bad  to  be  longer  endured.  Are 
we  not,  then,  bound  in  honor  and  morals  to 
see  to  it  that  the  government  which  replaces 
Spanish  rule  is  better?  Are  we  not  morally 
culpable  and  disgraced  before  the  civilized 
world  if  we  leave  it  as  bad  or  worse!  Can 
any  consideration  of  mere  policy,  of  our  own 
interests,  or  our  own  ease  and  comfort,  free 
us  from  that  solemn  responsibility  which  we 
have  voluntarily  assumed,  and  for  which  we 
have  lavishly  spilled  American  and  Spanish 
blood! 

Most  people  now  realize  from  what  a  mis- 
take Congress  was  kept  by  the  firm  attitude 
of  the  President  in  opposing  a  recognition  of 
the  so-called  Cuban  Eepublic  of  Cubitas. 
It  is  now  generally  understood  that  virtu- 
ally there  was  no  Cuban  Eepublic,  or  any 
Cuban  government  save  that  of  wandering 
bands  of  guerrilla  insurgents,  probably  less 
numerous  and  influential  than  had  been 
represented.  There  seems  reason  to  believe 
that  however  bad  Spanish  government  may 
have  been,  the  rule  of  these  people,  where 
they  had  the  power,  was  as  bad ;  and  still 
greater  reason  to  apprehend  that  if  they  had 
full  power,  their  sense  of  past  wrongs  and 


4  PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

their  unrestrained  tropical  thirst  for  ven- 
geance might  lead  to  something  worse.  Is 
it  for  that  pitiful  result  that  a  civilized  and 
Christian  people  is  giving  up  its  sons  and 
pouring  out  blood  and  treasure  in  Cuba? 

In  commanding  the  war,  Congress  pledged 
us  to  continue  our  action  until  the  pacifica- 
tion of  the  island  should  be  secured.  When 
that  happy  time  has  arrived,  if  it  shall  then 
be  found  that  the  Cuban  insurgents  and 
their  late  enemies  are  able  to  unite  in  main- 
taining a  settled  and  peaceable  government 
in  Cuba,  distinctly  free  from  the  faults  which 
now  lead  the  United  States  to  destroy  the 
old  one,  we  shall  have  discharged  our  re- 
sponsibility, and  will  be  at  liberty  to  end 
our  interference.  But  if  not,  the  responsi- 
bility of  the  United  States  continues.  It  is 
morally  bound  to  secure  to  Cuba  such  a 
government,  even  if  forced  by  circumstances 
to  furnish  it  itself. 

The  Pledge  At  this  point,  however,  we  are  checked  by 
of  Congress,  g^  reminder  of  the  further  action  of  Congress, 
"  asserting  its  determination,  when  the  paci- 
fication of  Cuba  has  been  accomplished,  to 
leave  the  government  and  control  of  the 
island  to  its  people." 

Now,  the  secondary  provisions  of  any  great 
measure  must  be  construed  in  the  light  of 
its  main  purpose ;  and  where  they  conflict. 


TEKRITOEY  WE   ARE  THREATENED   WITH       5 

we  are  led  to  presume  that  they  would  not 
have  been  adopted  but  for  ignorance  of  the 
actual  conditions.  Is  it  not  evident  that 
such  was  the  case  here?  We  now  know 
how  far  Congress  was  misled  as  to  the 
organization  and  power  of  the  alleged  Cuban 
government,  the  strength  of  the  revolt,  and 
the  character  of  the  war  the  insurgents  were 
waging.  We  have  seen  how  little  depen- 
dence could  be  placed  upon  the  lavish 
promises  of  support  from  great  armies  of 
insurgents  in  the  war  we  have  undertaken ; 
and  we  are  beginning  to  realize  the  difference 
between  our  idea  of  a  humane  and  civilized 
"pacification"  and  that  apparently  enter- 
tained up  to  this  time  by  the  insurgents.  It 
is  certainly  true  that  when  the  war  began 
neither  Congress  nor  the  people  of  the  United 
States  cherished  an  intention  to  hold  Cuba 
permanently,  or  had  any  further  thought 
than  to  pacify  it  and  turn  it  over  to  its  own 
people.  But  they  must  pacify  it  before  they 
turn  it  over;  and,  from  present  indications, 
to  do  that  thoroughly  may  be  the  work  of 
years.  Even  then  they  are  still  responsible 
to  the  world  for  the  establishment  of  a 
better  government  than  the  one  they  de- 
stroy. If  the  last  state  of  that  island  should 
be  worse  than  the  first,  the  fault  and  the 
crime  must  be  solely  that  of  the  United 
States.     We  were  not  actually  forced  to 


6  PROBLEMS   OF  EXPANSION 

involve  ourselves ;  we  might  have  passed  by 
on  the  other  side.  When,  instead,  we  in- 
sisted on  interfering,  we  made  ourselves  re- 
sponsible for  improving  the  situation ;  and, 
no  matter  what  Congress  "disclaimed,"  or 
what  intention  it "  asserted,"  we  cannot  leave 
Cuba  till  that  is  done  without  national  dis- 
honor and  blood-guiltiness. 

Egypt  and      The    situation    is    curiously  like    that    of 
Ciii>«.  England   in   Egypt.     She   intervened   too, 

under  far  less  provocation,  it  must  be  ad- 
mitted, and  for  a  cause  rather  more  com- 
mercial than  humanitarian.  But  when  some 
thought  that  her  work  was  ended  and  that 
it  was  time  for  her  to  go.  Lord  Granville,  on 
behalf  of  Mr.  Gladstone's  government,  ad- 
dressed the  other  great  European  Powers  in  a 
note  on  the  outcome  of  which  Congress  might 
have  reflected  with  profit  before  framing  its 
resolutions.  "  Although  for  the  present,"  he 
said,  "  a  British  force  remains  in  Egypt  for 
the  preservation  of  public  tranquillity.  Her 
Majesty's  government  are  desirous  of  with- 
drawing it  as  soon  as  the  state  of  the  coun- 
try and  the  organization  of  proper  means 
for  the  maintenance  of  the  Khedive's  au- 
thority will  admit  of  it.  In  the  meantime 
the  position  in  which  Her  Majesty's  govern- 
ment are  placed  towards  His  Highness  im- 
poses upon  them  the  duty  of  giving  advice, 


TEERITOEY  WE  ARE  THREATENED  WITH       7 

with  the  object  of  securing  that  the  order  of 
things  to  be  established  shall  be  of  a  satis- 
factory character  and  possess  the  elements 
of  stability  and  progress."  As  time  went 
on  this  declaration  did  not  seem  quite  ex- 
plicit enough;  and  accordingly,  just  a  year 
later,  Lord  Granville  instructed  the  present 
Lord  Cromer,  then  Sir  Evelyn  Baring,  that 
it  should  be  made  clear  to  the  Egyptian 
ministers  and  governors  of  provinces  that 
"  the  responsibility  which  for  the  time  rests 
on  England  obliges  Her  Majesty ^s  govern- 
ment to  insist  on  the  adoption  of  the  policy 
which  they  recommend,  and  that  it  will  be 
necessary  that  those  ministers  and  governors 
who  do  not  follow  this  course  should  cease 
to  hold  their  offices." 

That  was  in  1884— a  year  after  the  defeat 
of  Arabi,  and  the  "  pacification."  It  is  now 
fourteen  years  later.  The  English  are  still 
there,  and  the  Egyptian  ministers  and  gov- 
ernors now  understand  quite  well  that  they 
must  cease  to  hold  their  offices  if  they  do 
not  adopt  the  policy  recommended  by  the 
British  diplomatic  agent.  If  it  should  be 
found  that  we  cannot  with  honor  and  self- 
respect  begin  to  abandon  our  self-imposed 
task  of  Cuban  "pacification"  with  any 
greater  speed,  the  impetuous  congressmen, 
as  they  read  over  their  own  inconsiderate 
resohitions  fourteen  years  hence,  can  hide 


8  PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

their  blushes  behind  a  copy  of  Lord  Gran- 
ville's letter.  They  may  explain,  if  they 
like,  with  the  classical  excuse  of  Benedick, 
"  When  I  said  I  would  die  a  bachelor,  I  did 
not  think  I  should  live  till  I  were  married." 
Or  if  this  seems  too  frivolous  for  their  serious 
plight,  let  them  recall  the  position  of  Mr. 
Jefferson,  who  originally  declared  that  the 
purchase  of  foreign  teriitory  would  make 
waste  paper  of  the  Constitution,  and  subse- 
quently appealed  to  Congress  for  the  money 
to  pay  for  his  purchase  of  Louisiana.  When 
he  held  such  an  acquisition  unconstitutional, 
he  had  not  thought  he  would  live  to  want 
Louisiana. 

As  to  Cuba,  it  may  be  fairly  concluded 
that  only  these  points  are  actually  clear: 

(1)  We  had  made  ourselves  in  a  sense  re- 
sponsible for  Spain's  rule  in  that  island  by 
our  consistent  declaration,  through  three 
quarters  of  a  century,  that  no  other  Eu- 
ropean nation  should  replace  her— Daniel 
Webster,  as  Secretary  of  State,  even  seeking 
to  guard  her  hold  as  against  Great  Britain. 

(2)  We  are  now  at  war  because  we  say  Span- 
ish rule  is  intolerable ;  and  we  cannot  with- 
draw our  hand  till  it  is  replaced  by  a  rule 
for  which  we  are  willing  to  be  responsible. 

(3)  We  are  also  pledged  to  remain  till  the 
pacification  is  complete. 


TEEKITOKY  WE  ARE  THREATENED  WITH      9 

In  the  other  territories  in  question  the  The 
conditions  are  different.  We  are  not  taking  Territories 
possession  of  them,  as  we  are  of  Cuba,  with 
the  avowed  purpose  of  giving  them  a  better 
government.  We  are  conquering  them  be- 
cause we  are  at  war  with  Spain,  which  has 
been  holding  and  governing  them  very  much 
as  she  has  Cuba;  and  we  must  strike  Spain 
wherever  and  as  hard  as  we  can.  But  it 
must  at  once  be  recognized  that  as  to  Porto 
Eico  at  least,  to  hold  it  would  be  the  natural 
course  and  what  all  the  world  would  expect. 
Both  Cuba  and  Porto  Rico,  like  Hawaii, 
are  within  the  acknowledged  sphere  of  our 
influence,  and  ours  must  necessarily  be  the 
first  voice  in  deciding  their  destiny.  Our 
national  position  with  regard  to  them  is 
historic.  It  has  been  officially  declared  and 
known  to  every  civilized  nation  for  three 
quarters  of  a  century.  To  abandon  it  now, 
that  we  may  refuse  greatness  through  a 
sudden  craven  fear  of  being  great,  would  be 
so  astonishing  a  reversal  of  a  policy  stead- 
fastly maintained  by  the  whole  line  of  our 
responsible  statesmen  since  1823  as  to  be 
grotesque. 

John  Quincy  Adams,  writing  in  April  of 
that  year,  as  Secretary  of  State,  to  our  Min- 
ister to  Spain,  pointed  out  that  the  dominion 
of  Spain  upon  the  American  continents, 
North  and  South,  was  irrevocably  gone,  but 


10  PROBLEMS   OF  EXPANSION 

warned  him  that  Cuba  and  Porto  Rico  still 
remained  nominally  dependent  upon  her,  and 
that  she  might  attempt  to  transfer  them. 
That  could  not  be  permitted,  as  they  were 
"  natural  appendages  to  the  North  American 
continent."  Subsequent  statements  turned 
more  upon  what  Mr.  Adams  called  "the 
transcendent  importance  of  Cuba  to  the 
United  States  " ;  but  from  that  day  to  this  I 
do  not  recall  a  line  in  our  state  papers  to 
show  that  the  claim  of  the  United  States  to 
control  the  future  of  Porto  Rico  as  well  as 
of  Cuba  was  ever  waived.  As  to  Cuba,  Mr. 
Adams  predicted  that  within  half  a  century 
its  annexation  would  be  indispensable. 
"There  are  laws  of  political  as  well  as  of 
physical  gravitation,"  he  said;  and  "Cuba, 
forcibly  disjoined  from  its  own  unnatural 
connection  with  Spain,  and  incapable  of  self- 
support,  can  gravitate  only  towards  the 
North  American  Union,  which,  by  the  same 
law  of  nature,  cannot  cast  her  off  from  its 
bosom."  If  Cuba  is  incapable  of  self-sup- 
port, and  could  not  therefore  be  left,  in  the 
cheerful  language  of  Congress,  to  her  own 
people,  how  much  less  could  little  Porto 
Rico  stand  alone? 

There  remains  the  alternative  of  giving 
Porto  Rico  back  to  Spain  at  the  end  of  the 
war.  But  if  we  are  warranted  now  in  mak- 
ing war  because  the  character  of  Spanish 


TEREITOEY  WE  AEE   THEEATENED   WITH     11 

rule  in  Cuba  was  intolerable,  how  could  we 
justify  ourselves  in  handing  back  Porto  Rico 
to  the  same  rule,  after  having  once  emanci- 
pated her  from  it  1  The  subject  need  not  be 
pursued.  To  return  Porto  Eico  to  Spain, 
after  she  is  once  in  our  possession,  is  as 
much  beyond  the  power  of  the  President  and 
of  Congress  as  it  was  to  preserve  the  peace 
with  Spain  after  the  destruction  of  the  Maine 
in  the  harbor  of  Havana.  From  that  mo- 
ment the  American  people  resolved  that  the 
flag  under  which  this  calamity  was  possible 
should  disappear  forever  from  the  Western 
hemisphere,  and  they  will  sanction  no  peace 
that  permits  it  to  remain. 

The  question  of  the  Philippines  is  different 
and  more  difficult.  They  are  not  within 
what  the  diplomatists  of  the  world  would 
recognize  as  the  legitimate  sphere  of  Ameri- 
can influence.  Our  relation  to  them  is 
purely  the  accident  of  recent  war.  We  are 
not  in  honor  bound  to  hold  them,  if  we 
can  honorably  dispose  of  them.  But  we 
know  that  their  grievances  differ  only  in 
kind,  not  in  degree,  from  those  of  Cuba ;  and 
having  once  freed  them  from  the  Spanish 
yoke,  we  cannot  honorably  require  them  to 
go  back  under  it  again.  That  would  be  to 
put  us  in  an  attitude  of  nauseating  national 
hypocrisy ;  to  give  the  lie  to  all  our  profes- 
sions of  humanity  in  our  interference  in 


12  PROBLEMS   OF  EXPANSION 

Cuba,  if  not  also  to  prove  that  our  real 
motive  was  conquest.  What  humanity  for- 
bade us  to  tolerate  in  the  West  Indies,  it 
would  not  justify  us  in  reestablishing  in  the 
Philippines. 

What,  then,  can  we  do  with  them  ?  Shall 
we  trade  them  for  something  nearer  home  ? 
Doubtless  that  would  be  permissible,  if  we 
were  sure  of  thus  securing  them  a  better 
government  than  that  of  Spain,  and  if  it 
could  be  done  without  precipitating  fresh  in- 
ternational difficulties.  But  we  cannot  give 
them  to  our  friend  and  their  neighbor  Japan 
without  instantly  provoking  the  hostility  of 
Russia,  which  recently  interfered  to  prevent 
a  far  smaller  Japanese  aggrandizement. 
We  cannot  give  them  to  Russia  without  a 
greater  injustice  to  Japan ;  or  to  Germany 
or  to  France  or  to  England  without  raising 
far  more  trouble  than  we  allay.  England 
would  like  us  to  keep  them ;  the  Continental 
nations  would  like  that  better  than  any  other 
control  excepting  Spain's  or  their  own ;  and 
the  Philippines  would  prefer  it  to  anything 
save  the  absolute  independence  which  they 
are  incapable  of  maintaining.  Having  been 
led  into  their  possession  by  the  course  of  a 
war  undertaken  for  the  sake  of  humanity, 
shall  we  draw  a  geographical  limit  to  our 
humanity,  and  say  we  cannot  continue  to  be 
governed  by  it  in  Asiatic  waters  because  it 


TERKITOEY  WE  AEE  THREATENED  WITH     13 

is  too  much  trouble  and  is  too  disagreeable 
—and,  besides,  there  may  be  no  profit  in  it  1 
Both  war  and  diplomacy  have  many  sur- 
prises; and  it  is  quite  possible  that  some 
way  out  of  our  embarrassing  possession  may 
yet  be  found.  The  fact  is  clear  that  many 
of  our  people  do  not  much  want  it;  but  if 
a  way  of  relinquishing  it  is  proposed,  the 
one  thing  we  are  bound  to  insist  on  is  that 
it  shall  be  consistent  with  our  attitude  in 
the  war,  and  with  our  honorable  obligations 
to  the  islands  we  have  conquered  and  to 
civilization. 

The  chief  aversion  to  the  vast  accessions  Fear  of  then? 
of  territory  with  which  we  are  threatened  *^  states, 
springs  from  the  fear  that  ultimately  they 
must  be  admitted  into  the  Union  as  States. 
No  public  duty  is  more  urgent  at  this  mo- 
ment than  to  resist  from  the  very  outset  the 
concession  of  such  a  possibility.  In  no  cir- 
cumstances likely  to  exist  within  a  century 
should  they  be  admitted  as  States  of  the 
Union.  The  loose,  disunited,  and  unrelated 
federation  of  independent  States  to  which 
this  would  inevitably  lead,  stretching  from 
the  Indian  Archipelago  to  the  Caribbean 
Sea,  embracing  all  climes,  all  religions,  all 
races,— black,  yellow,  white,  and  their  mix- 
tures,—all  conditions,  from  pagan  ignorance 
and  the  verge  of  cannibalism  to  the  best 


14  PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

product  of  centuries  of  civilization,  educa- 
tion, and  self-government,  all  with  equal 
rights  in  our  Senate  and  representation  ac- 
cording to  population  in  our  House,  with 
an  equal  voice  in  shaping  our  national  des- 
tinies—that would,  at  least  in  this  stage  of 
the  world,  be  humanitarianism  run  mad,  a 
degeneration  and  degradation  of  the  homo- 
geneous, continental  Republic  of  our  pride 
too  preposterous  for  the  contemplation  of 
serious  and  intelligent  men.  Quite  as  well 
might  Great  Britain  now  invite  the  swarm- 
ing millions  of  India  to  send  rajas  and  mem- 
bers of  the  lower  House,  in  proportion  to 
population,  to  swamp  the  Lords  and  Com- 
mons and  rule  the  English  people.  If  it  had 
been  supposed  that  even  Hawaii,  with  its 
overwhelming  preponderance  of  Kanakas 
and  Asiatics,  would  become  a  State,  she 
could  not  have  been  annexed.  If  the  ter- 
ritories we  are  conquering  must  become 
States,  we  might  better  renounce  them  at 
once  and  place  them  under  the  protectorate 
of  some  humane  and  friendly  European 
Power  with  less  nonsense  in  its  blood. 

This  is  not  to  deny  them  the  freest  and 
most  liberal  institutions  they  are  capable  of 
sustaining.  The  people  of  Sitka  and  the 
Aleutian  Islands  enjoy  the  blessings  of 
ordered  liberty  and  free  institutions,  but 
nobody  dreams  of  admitting  them  to  State- 


TEERITOKY  WE  ABE  l^HEEATENED  WITH    15 

hood.  New  Mexico  has  belonged  to  us  for 
half  a  century,  not  only  without  oppression, 
but  with  all  the  local  self-government  for 
which  she  was  prepared ;  yet,  though  an  in- 
tegral part  of  our  continent,  surrounded  by 
States,  and  with  an  adequate  population,  she 
is  still  not  admitted  to  Statehood.  Why 
should  not  the  people  on  the  island  of  Porto 
Eico,  or  even  of  Cuba,  prosper  and  be  happy 
for  the  next  century  under  a  rule  similar  in 
the  main  to  that  under  which  their  kinsmen 
of  New  Mexico  have  prospered  for  the  last 
half-century  ? 

With  some  necessary  modifications,  the  ter- 
ritorial form  of  government  which  we  have 
tried  so  successfully  from  the  beginning  of 
the  Union  is  well  adapted  to  the  best  of 
such  communities.  It  secures  local  self-gov- 
ernment, equality  before  the  law,  upright 
courts,  ample  power  for  order  and  defense, 
and  such  control  by  Congress  as  gives  se- 
curity against  the  mistakes  or  excesses  of 
people  new  to  the  exercise  of  these  rights. 

But  such  a  system,  we  are  told,  is  contrary  wiu  the 
to  our  Constitution  and  to  the  spirit  of  our  Constitution 
institutions.    Why?    We  have  had  just  that  withiioiding 
system    ever    since    the    Constitution   was  statehood? 
framed.    It   is   true   that   a  large  part  of 
the  territory  thus  governed  has  now  been 
admitted  into  the  Union  in  the  form  of  new 


16  PROBLEMS  OF   EXPANSION 

States.  But  it  is  not  true  that  this  was 
recognized  at  the  beginning  as  a  right,  or 
even  generally  contemplated  as  a  probabil- 
ity; nor  is  it  true  that  it  has  been  the  pur- 
pose or  expectation  of  those  who  annexed 
foreign  territory  to  the  United  States,  like 
the  Louisiana  or  the  Gadsden  Purchase,  that 
it  would  all  be  carved  into  States.  That 
feature  of  the  marvelous  development  of  the 
continent  has  come  as  a  surprise  to  this 
generation  and  the  last,  and  would  have 
been  absolutely  incredible  to  the  men  of 
Thomas  Jefferson's  time.  Obviously,  then, 
it  could  not  have  been  the  purpose  for  which, 
before  that  date,  our  territorial  system  was 
devised.  It  is  not  clear  that  the  founders 
of  the  Government  expected  even  all  the 
territory  we  possessed  at  the  outset  to  be 
made  into  States.  Much  of  it  was  supposed 
to  be  worthless  and  uninhabitable.  But  it 
is  certain  that  they  planned  for  outside  ac- 
cessions. Even  in  the  Articles  of  Confed- 
eration they  provided  for  the  admission  of 
Canada  and  of  British  colonies  which  in- 
cluded Jamaica  as  well  as  Nova  Scotia. 
Madison,  in  referring  to  this,  construes  it  as 
meaning  that  they  contemplated  only  the 
admission  of  these  colonies  as  colonies,  not 
the  eventual  establishment  of  new  States 
("  Federalist,"  No.  43).  About  the  same  time 
Hamilton  was   dwelling  on  the  alarms  of 


TEEEITORY  WE  ARE   THREATENED  WITH    17 

those  who  thought  the  country  already  too 
large,  and  arguing  that  great  size  was  a 
safeguard  against  ambitious  rulers. 

Nevertheless,  the  objectors  still  argue,  the 
Constitution  gives  no  positive  warrant  for  a 
permanent  territorial  policy.  But  it  does ! 
Ordinarily  it  may  be  assumed  that  what  the 
framers  of  the  Constitution  immediately 
proceeded  to  do  under  it  was  intended  by 
them  to  be  warranted  by  it;  and  we  have 
seen  that  they  immediately  devised  and 
maintained  a  territorial  system  for  the  gov- 
ernment of  territory  which  they  had  no  ex- 
pectation of  ever  converting  into  States. 
The  case,  however,  is  even  plainer  than  that. 
The  sole  reference  in  the  Constitution  to  the 
territories  of  the  United  States  is  in  Article 
IV,  Section  3:  ''The  Congress  shall  have 
power  to  dispose  of  and  make  all  needful 
rales  and  regulations  respecting  the  terri- 
tory or  other  property  belonging  to  the 
United  States."  Jefferson  revised  his  first 
views  far  enough  to  find  warrant  for  acquir- 
ing territory ;  but  here  is  explicit,  unmistak- 
able authority  conferred  for  dealing  with  it, 
and  with  other  "  property,"  precisely  as  Con- 
gress chooses.  The  territory  was  not  a  pres- 
ent or  prospective  party  in  interest  in  the 
Union  created  under  this  organic  act.  It 
was  "property,"  to  be  disposed  of  or  ruled 
and  regulated  as  Congress  might  determine. 


18  PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

The  inhabitants  of  the  territory  were  not 
consulted ;  there  was  no  provision  that  they 
should  even  be  guaranteed  a  republican  fonn 
of  government  like  the  States;  they  were 
secured  no  right  of  representation  and  given 
no  vote.  So,  too,  when  it  came  to  acquiring 
new  territory,  there  was  no  thought  of  con- 
sulting the  inhabitants.  Mr.  Jefferson  did 
not  ask  the  citizens  of  Louisiana  to  consent 
to  their  annexation,  nor  did  Mr.  Monroe 
submit  such  a  question  to  the  Spaniards  of 
Florida,  nor  Mr.  Polk  to  the  Mexicans  of 
California,  nor  Mr.  Pierce  to  the  New  Mexi- 
cans, nor  Mr.  Johnson  to  the  Eussians  and 
Aleuts  of  Alaska.  The  power  of  the  Gov- 
ernment to  deal  with  territory,  foreign  or 
domestic,  precisely  as  it  chooses  was  under- 
stood from  the  beginning  to  be  absolute; 
and  at  no  stage  in  our  whole  history  have 
we  hesitated  to  exercise  it.  The  question  of 
permanently  holding  the  Philippines  or  any 
other  conquered  territory  as  territory  is  not, 
and  cannot  be  made,  one  of  constitutional 
right ;  it  is  one  solely  of  national  duty  and 
of  national  policy. 

Does  the       As  a  last  resort,  it  is  maintained  that  even 
Dortrine       ^^  *^^  Constitution  does  not  forbid,  the  Mon- 
interfere?     roe  Doctrine  does.     But  the  famous  declara- 
tion of  Mr.  Monroe   on  which  reliance  is 
placed  does  not  warrant   this  conclusion. 


TEEEITOEY  WE  ARE  THREATENED  WITH    19 

After  holding  that  "the  American  conti- 
nents, by  the  free  and  independent  condition 
which  they  have  assumed  and  maintained, 
are  henceforth  not  to  be  considered  as  sub- 
jects for  future  colonization  by  any  Euro- 
pean Power,"  Mr.  Monroe  continued :  "  We 
should  consider  any  attempt  on  their  part 
to  extend  their  system  to  any  part  of  this 
hemisphere  as  dangerous  to  our  peace  and 
safety.  With  the  existing  colonies  or  de- 
pendencies of  any  European  Power  we  have 
not  interfered,  and  shall  not  interfere."  The 
context  makes  it  clear  that  this  assurance 
applies  solely  to  the  existing  colonies  and 
dependencies  they  still  had  in  this  hemi- 
sphere ;  and  that  even  this  was  qualified  by 
the  previous  warning  that  while  we  took  no 
part  "  in  the  wars  of  European  Powers,  in 
matters  relating  to  themselves,"  we  resented 
injuries  and  defended  our  rights.  It  will 
thus  be  seen  that  Mr.  Monroe  gave  no  pledge 
that  we  would  never  interfere  with  any  de- 
pendency or  colony  of  European  Powers 
anywhere.  He  simply  declared  our  general 
policy  not  to  interfere  with  existing  colonies 
still  remaining  to  them  on  our  coast,  so  long 
as  they  left  the  countries  alone  which  had 
already  gained  their  independence,  and  so 
long  as  they  did  not  injure  us  or  invade  our 
rights.  And  even  this  statement  of  the 
scope    of   Mr.    Monroe's    declaration   must 


20  PROBLEMS   OF  EXPANSION 

be  construed  in  the  light  of  the  fact  that  the 
same  Administration  which  promulgated  the 
Monroe  Doctrine  had  already  issued  from 
the  State  Department  Mr.  Adams's  predic- 
tion, above  referred  to,  that  "  the  annexation 
of  Cuba  will  yet  be  found  indispensable." 
Perhaps  Mr.  Monroe's  language  might  have 
been  properly  understood  as  a  general  as- 
surance that  we  would  not  meddle  in  Europe 
so  long  as  they  gave  us  no  further  trouble 
in  America;  but  certainly  it  did  not  also 
abandon  to  their  exclusive  jurisdiction  Asia 
and  Afi-ica  and  the  islands  of  the  sea. 

The  The  candid  conclusions  seem  inevitable  that, 

Outcome?  ^^*  ^®  ^  matter  of  policy,  but  as  a  neces- 
sity of  the  position  in  which  we  find  our- 
selves and  as  a  matter  of  national  duty,  we 
must  hold  Cuba,  at  least  for  a  time  and  till 
a  permanent  government  is  well  established 
for  which  we  can  afford  to  be  responsible; 
we  must  hold  Porto  Rico ;  and  we  may  have 
to  hold  the  Philippines. 

The  war  is  a  great  sorrow,  and  to  many 
these  results  of  it  will  seem  still  more  mourn- 
ful. They  cannot  be  contemplated  with  un- 
mixed confidence  by  any;  and  to  all  who 
think,  they  must  be  a  source  of  some  grave 
apprehensions.  Plainly,  this  unwelcome 
war  is  leading  us  by  ways  we  have  not  trod 
to  an  end  we  cannot  surely  forecast.    On 


TEKKITOKY  WE  AKE  THKEATENED  WITH    21 

the  other  hand,  there  are  some  good  things 
coming  from  it  that  we  can  ah-eady  see.  It 
will  make  an  end  forever  of  Spain  in  this 
hemisphere.  It  will  certainly  secure  to  Cuba 
and  Porto  Rico  better  government.  It  will 
furnish  an  enormous  outlet  for  the  energy  of 
our  citizens,  and  give  another  example  of  the 
rapid  development  to  which  our  system  leads. 
It  has  already  brought  North  and  South  to- 
gether as  nothing  could  but  a  foreign  war  in 
which  both  offered  their  blood  for  the  cause 
of  their  reunited  country— a  result  of  incal- 
culable advantage  both  at  home  and  abroad. 
It  has  brought  England  and  the  United 
States  together— another  result  of  momen- 
tous importance  in  the  progress  of  civiliza- 
tion and  Christianity.  Europe  will  know  us 
better  henceforth ;  even  Spain  will  know  us 
better;  and  this  knowledge  should  tend 
powerfully  hereafter  to  keep  the  peace  of 
the  world.  The  war  should  abate  the  swag- 
gering, swash-buckler  tendency  of  many  of 
our  public  men,  since  it  has  shown  our  in- 
credible unreadiness  at  the  outset  for  meet- 
ing even  a  third-rate  Power;  and  it  must 
secure  us  henceforth  an  army  and  navy  less 
ridiculously  inadequate  to  our  exposure.  It 
insures  us  a  mercantile  marine.  It  insures 
the  Nicaragua  Canal,  a  Pacific  cable,  great 
development  on  our  Pacific  coast,  and  the 
mercantile  control  of  the  Pacific  Ocean.     It 


22  PROBLEMS   OF  EXPANSION 

imposes  new  and  very  serious  business  on 
our  public  men,  which  ought  to  dignify  and 
elevate  the  public  service.  Finally,  it  has 
shown  such  splendid  courage  and  skill  in  the 
Army  and  Navy,  such  sympathy  at  home  for 
our  men  at  the  front,  and  such  devoted 
eagerness,  especially  among  women,  to  alle- 
viate suffering  and  humanize  the  struggle, 
as  to  thrill  every  patriotic  heart  and  make 
us  all  prouder  than  ever  of  our  country  and 
its  matchless  people. 


II 

WAS  IT  TOO  GOOD  A  TREATY! 


¥ 


This  speech  was  made  at  a  dinner  given  in  New  York  by 
the  Lotos  Club  in  honor  of  Mr.  Reid,  who  had  been  its  pres- 
ident for  fourteen  years  prior  to  his  first  diplomatic  service 
abroad  in  1889.  It  was  the  first  public  utterance  by  any 
one  of  the  Peace  Commissioners  after  the  ratification  of  the 
Treaty  of  Paris. 

Among  the  many  letters  of  regret  at  the  dinner,  the  fol- 
lowing, from  the  Secretary  of  State  and  from  his  predeces- 
sor, were  given  to  the  public : 

Washington,  D.  C,  February  9,  1899. 
To  John  Elderkhif  Lotos  Club,  Netc  York : 

I  received  your  note  in  due  time,  and  had  hoped  until  now 
to  be  able  to  come  and  join  you  in  doing  honor  to  my  life- 
long friend,  the  Hon.  Whitelaw  Reid ;  but  the  pressure  of 
official  engagements  here  has  made  it  impossible  for  me  to 
do  so.  I  shall  be  with  you  in  spirit,  and  shall  applaud  to 
the  best  that  can  be  said  in  praise  of  one  who,  in  a  life  of 
remarkable  variety  of  achievement,  has  honored  every 
position  he  has  held.  Faithfully  yours, 

John  Hay. 

Canton,  Ohio,  February  8,  1899. 
To  Chester  S.  Lord,  Lotos  Club,  Xeic  York : 

I  beg  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your  invitation  to 
attend  the  dinner  to  be  given  to  the  Hon.  Whitelaw 
Reid  on  the  evening  of  the  11th  inst.  Nothing  would 
afford  me  more  pleasure  than  to  join  the  members  of  the 
Lotos  Club  in  doing  honor  to  Mr.  Reid.  It  is  a  source  of 
much  regret  that  circumstances  compel  me  to  forego  the 
privilege.  His  high  character  and  worth,  leadei*ship  in  the 
best  journalism  of  the  day,  eminent  services,  and  wide  ex- 
perience long  since  gave  him  an  honorable  place  among 
his  contemporaries.  The  Commission  to  negotiate  the 
treaty  concluded  at  Paris  on  December  10  had  no  more 
valued  member.  His  fellow-Commissioners  were  fortu- 
nate in  being  able  to  %vail  themselves  of  Mr.  Reid's  wide 
acquaintance  with  the  leading  statesmen  and  diplomats 
residing  in  Paris.  His  presence  as  a  member  of  the  Com- 
mission rendered  unnecessary  any  further  introduction 
to  those  who  had  known  him  as  our  Minister  to  France. 
He  gave  to  the  work  of  the  Commission  in  unstinted  mea- 
sure the  benefit  of  his  wisdom  in  council,  judgment,  and 
skill  in  the  preparation  and  presentation  of  the  American 
case  at  Paris.  Permit  me  to  join  you  in  congratulations 
and  best  wishes  to  Mr.  Reid,  and  to  express  the  hope  that 
there  are  in  store  for  him  many  more  years  of  useful- 
ness and  honor.  Very  truly  yours, 

William  R.  Day. 


WAS  IT  TOO  GOOD  A  TREATY? 


OBVIOUSLY  the  present  occasion  has 
no  narrow  or  merely  personal  mean- 
ing. It  comes  to  me  only  because  I  had  the 
good  fortune,  through  the  friendly  partiality 
of  the  President  of  the  United  States,  to  be 
associated  with  a  great  work  in  which  you 
took  a  patriotic  interest,  and  over  the  rati- 
fication of  which  you  use  this  means  of 
expressing  your  satisfaction.  It  was  a 
happy  thing  for  us  to  be  able  to  bring  back 
peace  to  our  own  land,  and  happier  still  to 
find  that  our  treaty  is  accepted  by  the 
Senate  and  the  people  as  one  that  guards 
the  honor  and  protects  the  interests  of  the 
country.  Only  so  should  a  nation  like  ours 
make  peace  at  all. 

Come,  Peace,  not  like  a  mourner  bowed 
For  honor  lost  and  dear  ones  wasted. 

But  proud,  to  meet  a  people  proud, 
With  eyes  that  tell  of  triumph  tasted. 

I  shall  make  no  apology— now  that  the 
Senate  has  unsealed  our  lips— for  speaking 

25 


26  PKOBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

briefly  of  this  work  just  happily  com- 
pleted. 

The  only  complaint  one  hears  about  it  is 
that  we  did  our  duty  too  well— that,  in  fact, 
we  made  peace  on  terms  too  favorable  to  our 
own  country.  In  all  the  pending  discussion 
there  seems  to  be  no  other  fault  found.  On 
no  other  point  is  the  treaty  said  by  any  one 
to  be  seriously  defective. 

It  loyally  carried  out  the  attitude  of  Con- 
gress as  to  Cuba.  It  enforced  the  renuncia- 
tion of  Spanish  sovereignty  there,  but,  in 
spite  of  the  most  earnest  Spanish  efforts,  it 
refused  to  accept  American  sovei*eignty.  It 
loaded  neither  ourselves  nor  the  Cubans  with 
the  so-called  Cuban  debts,  incurred  by  Spain 
in  the  efforts  to  subdue  them.  It  involved 
us  in  no  complications,  either  in  the  West 
Indies  or  in  the  East,  as  to  contracts  or 
claims  or  religious  establishments.  It  dealt 
liberally  with  a  fallen  foe— giving  him  a  gen- 
erous lump  sum  that  more  than  covered  any 
legitimate  debts  or  expenditures  for  pacific 
improvements ;  assuming  the  burden  of  just 
claims  against  him  by  our  own  people ;  carry- 
ing back  the  armies  surrendered  on  the  other 
side  of  the  world  at  oui*  own  cost ;  returning 
their  arms ;  even  restoring  them  their  artil- 
lery, including  heavy  ordnance  in  field  forti- 
fications, munitions  of  war,  and  the  very 
cattle  that  dragged  their  caissons.    It  se- 


WAS  IT  TOO   GOOD   A  TEEATY  ?  27 

cured  alike  for  Cubans  and  Filipinos  the 
release  of  political  prisoners.  It  scrupulously 
reserved  for  Congress  the  power  of  deter- 
mining the  political  status  of  the  inhabitants 
of  our  new  possessions.  It  declared  on  be- 
half of  the  most  Protectionist  country  in  the 
world  for  the  policy  of  the  Open  Door  within 
its  Asiatic  sphere  of  influence. 

With  all  this  the  Senate  and  the  country 
seemed  content.  But  the  treaty  refused  to 
return  to  Spanish  rule  one  foot  of  territory 
over  which  that  rule  had  been  broken  by  the 
triumphs  of  our  arms. 

Were  we  to  be  reproached  for  that? 
Should  the  Senate  have  told  us :  "  You  over- 
did this  business ;  you  looked  after  the  in- 
terests of  your  own  country  too  thoroughly. 
You  ought  to  have  abandoned  the  great 
archipelago  which  the  fortunes  of  war  had 
placed  at  your  country's  disposal.  You  are 
not  exactly  unfaithful  servants ;  you  are  too 
blindly,  unswervingly  faithful.  You  have  n't 
seized  an  opportunity  to  run  away  from  some 
distant  results  of  the  war  into  which  Con- 
gress plunged  the  country  before  dreaming 
how  far  it  might  spread.  You  have  n't  dodged 
for  us  the  responsibilities  we  incurred." 

That  is  true.  When  Admiral  Dewey  sank 
the  Spanish  fleet,  and  General  Merritt  cap- 
tured the  Spanish  army  that  alone  main- 
tained the  Spanish  hold  on  the  Philippines, 


28  PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

the  Spanish  power  there  was  gone ;  and  the 
civilization  and*  the  common  sense  and  the 
Christianity  of  the  world  looked  to  the 
power  that  succeeded  it  to  accept  its  re- 
sponsibilities. So  we  took  the  Philippines. 
How  could  men  representing  this  country, 
jealous  of  its  honor,  or  with  an  adequate 
comprehension  either  of  its  duty  or  its 
rights,  do  otherwise  I 

A  nation  at  war  oyer  a  disputed  boundary 
or  some  other  material  interest  might  prop- 
erly stop  when  that  interest  was  secured, 
and  give  back  to  the  enemy  all  else  that  had 
been  taken  from  him.  But  this  was  not  a 
war  for  any  material  interest.  It  was  a  war 
to  put  down  a  rule  over  an  alien  people, 
which  we  declared  so  barbarous  that  we 
could  no  longer  tolerate  it.  How  could  we 
consent  to  secure  peace,  after  we  had  broken 
down  this  barbarous  rule  in  two  archipel- 
agos, by  agreeing  that  one  of  them  should 
be  forced  back  under  it  I 

There  was  certainly  another  alternative. 
After  destroying  the  only  organized  gov- 
ernment in  the  archipelago,  the  only  security 
for  life  and  property,  native  and  foreign,  in 
great  commercial  centers  like  Manila,  Iloilo, 
and  Cebu,  against  hordes  of  uncivilized 
pagans  and  Mohammedan  Malays,  should  we 
then  scuttle  out  and  leave  them  to  their  fate ! 
A  band  of  old-time  Norse  pirates,  used  to 


WAS  IT  TOO   GOOD  A  TREATY  ?  29 

swooping  down  on  a  capital,  capturing  its 
rulers,  seizing  its  treasure,  burning  the  town, 
abandoning  the  people  to  domestic  dilorder 
and  foreign  spoliation,  and  promptly  sailing 
off  for  another  piratical  foray— such  a  band 
of  pirates  might,  no  doubt,  have  left  Manila 
to  be  sacked  by  the  insurgents,  while  it  fled 
from  the  Philippines.  We  did  not  think  a 
self-respecting,  civilized,  responsible  Chris- 
tian Power  could. 

There  was  another  side  to  it.  In  a  con-  indemnity, 
flict  to  which  fifty  years  of  steadily  increas- 
ing provocation  had  driven  us  we  had  lost 
266  sailors  on  the  Maine ;  had  lost  at  Santi- 
ago and  elsewhere  uncounted  victims  of 
Spanish  guns  and  tropical  climates ;  and  had 
spent  in  this  war  over  $240,000,000,  with- 
out counting  the  pensions  that  must  still 
accrue  under  laws  existing  when  it  began. 
Where  was  the  indemnity  that,  under  such 
circumstances,  it  is  the  duty  of  the  victorious 
nation  to  exact,  not  only  in  its  own  interest, 
but  in  the  interest  of  a  Christian  civilization 
and  the  tendencies  of  modern  International 
Law,  which  require  that  a  nation  provoking 
unjust  war  shall  smart  for  it,  not  merely 
while  it  lasts,  but  by  paying  the  cost  when 
it  is  ended!  Spain  had  no  money  even  to 
pay  her  own  soldiers.  No  indemnity  was 
possible,  save  in  territory.    Well,  we  once 


30  PK0BLEM8  OF  EXPANSION 

wanted  to  buy  Cuba,  before  it  had  been 
desolated  by  twelve  years  of  war  and  deci- 
mated by  Weyler;  yet  our  uttermost  offer 
for  it,  our  highest  valuation  even  then,  was 
$125,000,000— less  than  half  the  cost  of  our 
war.  But  now  we  were  precluded  from  tak- 
ing Cuba.  Porto  Rico,  immeasurably  less 
important  to  us,  and  eight  hundred  miles 
farther  away  from  our  coast,  is  only  one 
twelfth  the  size  of  Cuba.  Were  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  United  States,  charged  with 
the  duty  of  protecting  not  only  its  honor, 
but  its  interests,  in  arranging  terms  of  peace, 
to  content  themselves  with  little  Porto  Eico, 
away  off  a  third  of  the  way  to  Spain,  plus 
the  petty  reef  of  Guam,  in  the  middle  of  the 
Pacific,  as  indemnity  for  an  unprovoked  war 
that  had  cost  and  was  to  cost  their  country 
$300,000,000? 

The  Trouble  BuT,  some  One  exclaims,  the  Philippines  are 
they  Give-  already  giving  us  more  trouble  than  they 
Worth  it?  are  worth !  It  is  natural  to  say  so  just  now, 
and  it  is  partly  true.  What  they  are  worth 
and  likely  to  be  worth  to  this  country  in  the 
race  for  commercial  supremacy  on  the  Pacific 
—that  is  to  say,  for  supremacy  in  the  great 
development  of  trade  in  the  Twentieth  Cen- 
tury—is a  question  too  large  to  be  so  sum- 
marily decided,  or  to  be  entered  on  at  the 
close  of  a  dinner,  and  under  the  imtation  of 


WAS  IT  TOO   GOOD  A  TKEATY  ?  31 

a  Malay  half-breed's  folly.  But  nobody  ever 
doubted  that  they  would  give  us  trouble. 
That  is  the  price  nations  must  pay  for  going 
to  war,  even  in  a  just  cause.  I  was  not  one 
of  those  who  were  eager  to  begin  this  war 
with  Spain;  but  I  protest  against  any  at- 
tempt to  evade  our  just  responsibility  in  the 
position  in  which  it  has  left  us.  We  shall 
have  trouble  in  the  Philippines.  So  we 
shall  have  trouble  in  Cuba  and  in  Porto 
Eico.  If  we  dawdle,  and  hesitate,  and  lead 
them  to  think  we  fear  them  and  fear  trouble, 
our  trouble  will  be  great.  If,  on  the  other 
hand,  we  grasp  this  nettle  danger,  if  we  act 
promptly,  with  inexorable  vigor  and  with 
justice,  it  may  be  slight.  At  any  rate,  the 
more  serious  the  crisis  the  plainer  our  path. 
God  give  us  the  courage  to  purify  our  politics 
and  strengthen  our  Government  to  meet 
these  new  and  grave  duties! 


Ill 

PUEPORT  OF  THE  TEEATY 


This  speech  was  made,  two  days  after  the'preceding  one, 
on  the  invitation  of  the  Marquette  Club  of  Chicago,  at  the 
dinner  of  six  hundred  which  it  gave  in  the  Auditorium 
Hotel,  February  13,  1899,  in  honor  of  Lincoln's  birthday. 


PURPOET   OF  THE  TREATY 


BEYOND  the  AUeghanies  the  American 
voice  rings  clear  and  trne.  It  does  not 
sound,  here  in  Chicago,  as  if  you  favored  the 
pursuit  of  partizan  aims  in  great  questions 
of  foreign  policy,  or  division  among  our  own 
people  in  the  face  of  insurgent  guns  turned 
upon  our  soldiers  on  the  distant  fields  to 
which  we  sent  them.  We  are  all  here,  it 
would  seem,  to  stand  by  the  peace  that  has 
been  secured,  even  if  we  have  to  fight  for  it. 
Neither  has  any  reproach  come  from  Chi- 
cago to  the  Peace  Commissioners  because, 
when  intrusted  with  your  interests  in  a 
great  negotiation  in  a  foreign  capital,  they 
made  a  settlement  on  terms  too  favorable  to 
their  own  country— because  in  bringing 
home  peace  with  honor  they  also  brought 
home  more  property  than  some  of  our  people 
wanted!  When  that  reproach  has  been 
urged  elsewhere,  it  has  recalled  the  familiar 
defense  against  a  similar  complaint  in  an  ol(J 
political  contest.     There  might,  it  was  said, 

35 


36  PROBLEMS   OF  EXPANSION 

be  some  serious  disadvantages  about  a  sur- 
plus in  the  national  Treasury ;  but,  at  any 
rate,  it  was  easier  to  deal  with  a  surplus  than 
with  a  deficit !  If  we  have  brought  back  too 
much,  that  is  only  a  question  for  Congress 
and  our  voters.  If  we  had  brought  back 
too  little,  it  might  have  been  again  a  ques- 
tion for  the  Army  and  the  Navy. 

No  one  of  you  has  ever  been  heard  to  find 
fault  with  an  agent  because  in  making  a 
difficult  settlement  he  got  all  you  wanted, 
and  a  free  option  on  something  further  that 
everybody  else  wanted !  Do  you  know  of 
any  other  civilized  nation  of  the  first  or  even 
of  the  second  class  that  would  n't  jump  at 
that  option  on  the  Philippines  1  Ask  Russia. 
Ask  Germany.  Ask  Japan.  Ask  England 
or  France.  Ask  little  Belgium !  ^  And  yet, 
what  one  of  them,  unless  it  be  Japan,  has  any 
conceivable  interest  in  the  Philippines  to  be 
compared  with  that  of  the  mighty  Republic 
which  now  commands  the  one  side  of  the 
Pacific,  and,  unless  this  American  genera- 
tion is  blinder  to  opportunity  than  any  of 
its  predecessors,  will  soon  command  the 
other! 

1  At  this  time  it  was  still  a  ippines  to  Belgium.     But  for 

secret  that  among  the  many  the  perfectly  correct  attitude 

intrigues  afoot  during  the  ne-  of  King  Leopold,    it   might 

gotiations  at  Paris  was  one  have  had  a  chance  to  succeed, 

for  the  transfer  of  the  Phil-  or  at  least  to  make  trouble. 


PUEPOKT  OF  THE  TBEATY  37 

Put  yourselves  for  a  moment  in  our  place 
on  the  Quai  d'Orsay.  Would  you  really  have 
had  your  representatives  in  Paris,  the  guar- 
dians of  your  honor  in  negotiating  peace 
with  your  enemy,  declare  that  while  Spanish 
rule  in  the  West  Indies  was  so  barbarous 
that  it  was  our  duty  to  destroy  it,  we  were 
now  so  eager  for  peace  that  for  its  sake  we 
were  willing  in  the  East  to  reestablish  that 
same  barbarous  rule?  Or  would  you  have 
had  your  agents  in  Paris,  the  guardians  also 
of  your  material  interests,  throw  away  all 
chance  for  indemnity  for  a  war  that  began 
with  the  loss  of  266  American  sailors  on  the 
Maine,  and  had  cost  your  Treasury  during 
the  year  over  $240,000,000?  Would  you 
have  had  them  throw  away  a  magnificent 
foothold  for  the  trade  of  the  farther  East, 
which  the  fortune  of  war  had  placed  in  your 
hand,  throw  away  a  whole  archipelago  of 
boundless  possibilities,  economic  and  stra- 
tegic, throw  away  the  opportunity  of  centuries 
for  your  country?  Would  you  have  had 
them,  on  their  own  responsibility,  then  and 
there  decide  this  question  for  all  time,  and 
absolutely  refuse  to  reserve  it  for  the  deci- 
sion of  Congress  and  of  the  American  people, 
to  whom  that  decision  belongs,  and  who 
have  the  right  to  an  opportunity  first  for  its 
deliberate  consideration  ? 


38  PROBLEMS   OF  EXPANSION 

Some  Your   toast  is   to   the  "Achievements   of 

Se  Trwity?  American  Diplomacy."  Not  such  were  its 
achievements  under  your  earlier  statesmen ; 
not  such  has  been  its  work  under  the  in- 
structions of  your  State  Department,  from 
John  Quincy  Adams  on  down  the  honored 
line ;  and  not  such  the  work  your  represen- 
tatives brought  back  to  you  from  Paris. 

They  were  dealing  with  a  nation  with 
whom  it  has  never  been  easy  to  make  peace, 
even  when  war  was  no  longer  possible ;  but 
they  secured  a  peace  treaty  without  a  word 
that  compromises  the  honor  or  endangers 
the  interests  of  the  country. 

They  scrupulously  reserved  for  your  own 
decision,  through  your  Congress  or  at  the 
polls,  the  question  of  political  status  and 
civil  rights  for  the  inhabitants  of  your  new 
possessions. 

They  resisted  adroit  Spanish  efforts  for 
special  privileges  and  guaranties  for  their 
established  church,  and  pledged  the  United 
States  to  absolute  freedom  in  the  exercise  of 
their  religion  for  all  these  recent  Spanish 
subjects— pagan,  Mohammedan,  Confucian, 
or  Christian. 

They  maintained,  in  the  face  of  the  most 
vehement  opposition,  not  merely  of  Spain, 
but  of  well-nigh  all  Europe,  a  principle  vital 
to  oppressed  people  struggling  for  freedom— 
a  principle  without  which  our  own  freedom 


PURPOET  OF  THE  TREATY  39 

could  not  have  been  established,  and  with- 
out which  any  successful  revolt  against  any- 
unjust  rule  could  be  made  practically  impos- 
sible. That  principle  is  that,  contrary  to  the 
prevailing  rule  and  practice  in  large  trans- 
fers of  sovereignty,  debts  do  not  necessarily 
follow  the  territory  if  incurred  by  the  mother 
country  distinctly  in  efforts  to  enslave  it. 
Where  so  incurred,  your  representatives 
persistently  and  successfully  maintained  that 
no  attempt  by  the  mother  country  to  mort- 
gage to  bondholders  the  revenues  of  custom- 
houses or  in  any  way  to  pledge  the  future 
income  of  the  territory  could  be  recognized 
as  a  valid  or  binding  security— that  the 
moment  the  hand  of  the  oppressor  relaxed 
its  grasp,  his  claim  on  the  future  revenues  of 
the  oppressed  territory  was  gone.  It  is 
a  doctrine  that  raised  an  outcry  in  every 
Continental  bourse,  and  struck  terror  to 
every  gambling  European  investor  in  na- 
tional loans,  floated  at  usurious  profits,  to 
raise  funds  for  unjust  wars.  But  it  is  right, 
and  one  may  be  proud  that  the  United  States 
stood  like  a  rock,  barring  any  road  to  peace 
which  led  to  loading  either  on  the  liberated 
territory  or  on  the  people  that  had  freed  it 
the  debts  incurred  in  the  wars  against  it. 
If  this  is  not  International  Law  now,  it  will 
be ;  and  the  United  States  will  have  made  it. 
But  your  representatives  in  Paris  placed 


40  PROBLEMS   OF   EXPANSION 

your  country  in  no  tricky  attitude  of  en- 
deavoring either  to  evade  or  repudiate  just 
obligations.  They  recognized  the  duty  of 
reimbursement  for  debts  legitimately  in- 
curred for  pacific  improvements  or  otherwise, 
for  the  real  benefit  of  the  transferred  terri- 
tory. Not  till  it  began  to  appear  that,  of  the 
Philippine  debt  of  forty  millions  Mexican, 
or  a  little  under  twenty  millions  of  our 
money,  a  fourth  had  been  transferred  direct 
to  aid  the  war  in  Cuba,  and  the  rest  had 
probably  been  spent  mainly  in  the  war  in 
Luzon,  did  your  representatives  hesitate  at 
its  payment ;  and  even  then  they  decided  to 
give  a  lump  sum  equal  to  it,  which  could 
serve  as  a  recognition  of  whatever  debts 
Spain  might  have  incurred  in  the  past  for 
expenditures  in  that  archipelago  for  the 
benefit  of  the  people. 

They  protected  what  was  gained  in  the 
war  from  adroit  efforts  to  put  it  all  at  risk 
again,  through  an  untimely  appeal  to  the 
noble  principle  of  Arbitration.  They  held 
—and  I  am  sure  the  best  friends  of  the  prin- 
ciple will  thank  them  for  holding— that  an 
honest  resort  to  Arbitration  must  come  be- 
fore war,  to  avert  its  horrors,  not  after  war, 
to  escape  its  consequences. 

They  were  enabled  to  pledge  the  most  Pro- 
tectionist country  in  the  world  to  the  liberal 
and  wise  policy  of  the  Open  Door  in  the  East. 


PUKPOKT   OF   THE   TKEATY  41 

And  finally  they  secured  that  diplomatic 
novelty,  a  treaty  in  which  the  acntest  sen- 
atorial critics  have  not  found  a  peg  on  which 
inadmissible  claims  against  the  country 
may  be  hung. 

At  the  same  time  they  neither  neglected  nor  The  Material 
feared  the  duty  of  caring  for  the  material  Side  of  the 
interests  of  their  own  country ;  —the  duty  of 
grasping  the  enormous  possibilities  upon 
which  we  had  stumbled,  for  sharing  in  the 
awakening  and  development  of  the  farther 
East.  That  way  lies  now  the  best  hope 
of  American  commerce.  There  you  may 
command  a  natural  rather  than  an  artificial 
trade— a  trade  which  pushes  itself  instead  of 
needing  to  be  pushed;  a  trade  with  people 
who  can  send  you  things  you  want  and  can- 
not produce,  and  take  from  you  in  return 
things  they  want  and  cannot  produce;  in 
other  words,  a  trade  largely  between  differ- 
ent zones,  and  largely  with  less  advanced 
peoples,  comprising  nearly  one  fourth  the 
population  of  the  globe,  whose  wants  prom- 
ise to  be  speedily  and  enormously  developed. 
The  Atlantic  Ocean  carries  mainly  a  dif- 
ferent trade,  with  people  as  advanced  as 
ourselves,  who  could  produce  or  procure 
elsewhere  much  of  what  they  buy  from  us, 
while  we  could  produce,  if  driven  to  it,  most 
of  what  we  need  to  buy  from  them.     It  is 


42  PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

more  or  less,  therefore,  an  artificial  trade,  as 
well  as  a  trade  in  which  we  have  lost  the  first 
place  and  will  find  it  difficult  to  regain.  The 
ocean  carriage  for  the  Atlantic  is  in  the 
hands  of  our  rivals. 

The  Pacific  Ocean,  on  the  contrary,  is  in 
our  hands  now.  Practically  we  own  more 
than  half  the  coast  on  this  side,  dominate  the 
rest,  and  have  midway  stations  in  the  Sand- 
wich and  Aleutian  Islands.  To  extend  now 
the  authority  of  the  United  States  over  the 
great  Philippine  Archipelago  is  to  fence  in 
the  China  Sea  and  secure  an  almost  equally 
commanding  position  on  the  other  side  of 
the  Pacific— doubling  our  control  of  it  and 
of  the  fabulous  trade  the  Twentieth  Century 
will  see  it  bear.  Rightly  used,  it  enables  the 
United  States  to  convert  the  Pacific  Ocean 
almost  into  an  American  lake. 

Are  we  to  lose  all  this  through  a  mushy 
sentimentality,  characteristic  neither  of  prac- 
tical nor  of  responsible  people— alike  un- 
American  and  un-Christian,  since  it  would 
humiliate  us  by  showing  lack  of  nerve  to 
hold  what  we  are  entitled  to,  and  incrimi- 
nate us  by  entailing  endless  bloodshed  and 
anarchy  on  a  people  whom  we  have  already 
stripped  of  the  only  government  they  have 
known  for  three  hundred  years,  and  whom 
we  should  thus  abandon  to  civil  war  and 
foreign  spoliation! 


PUKPOKT   OF   THE   TKEATY  43 

Let  us  free  our  minds  of  some  bugbears.  Bugbears. 
One  of  them  is  this  notion  that  with  the 
retention  of  the  Philippines  our  manufac- 
turers will  be  crushed  by  the  products  of 
cheap  Eastern  labor.  But  it  does  not  abolish 
our  custom-houses,  and  we  can  still  enforce 
whatever  protection  we  desire. 

Another  is  that  our  American  workmen 
will  be  swamped  under  the  immigration  of 
cheap  Eastern  labor.  But  tropical  laborers 
rarely  emigrate  to  colder  climates.  Few 
have  ever  come.  If  we  need  a  law  to  keep 
them  out,  we  can  make  it.  • 

It  is  a  bugbear  that  the  Filipinos  would 
be  citizens  of  the  United  States,  and  would 
therefore  have  the  same  rights  of  free  travel 
and  free  entry  of  their  own  manufactures 
with  other  citizens.  The  treaty  did  not 
make  them  citizens  of  the  United  States  at 
all ;  and  they  never  will  be,  unless  you  neg- 
lect your  Congress. 

It  is  a  bugbear  that  anybody  living  on 
territory  or  other  property  belonging  to  the 
United  States  must  be  a  citizen.  The  Con- 
stitution says  that  "  persons  born  or  natural- 
ized in  the  United  States  are  citizens  of  the 
United  States";  while  it  adds  in  the  same 
sentence,  "and  of  the  State  wherein  they 
reside,"  showing  plainly  that  the  provision 
was  not  then  meant  to  include  territories. 

It  is  equally  a  bugbear  that  the   tariff 


44  PROBLEMS   OF   EXPANSION 

must  necessarily  be  the  same  over  any  of  the 
territory  or  other  property  of  the  United 
States  as  it  is  in  the  Nation  itself.  The 
Constitution  requires  that  "all  duties,  im- 
posts, and  excises  shall  be  the  same  through- 
out the  United  States,"  and  while  there  was 
an  incidental  expression  from  the  Supreme 
Bench  in  1820  to  the  effect  that  the  name 
United  States  as  here  used  should  include 
the  District  of  Columbia  and  other  territory, 
it  was  no  part  even  then  of  the  decision 
actually  rendered,  and  it  would  be  absurd  to 
stretch  this  mere  dictum  of  three  quarters 
of  a  century  ago,  relating  then,  at  any  rate, 
to  this  continent  alone,  to  carry  the  Dingley 
tariff  now  across  to  the  antipodes. 

Duties  of  the  BRUSHING  aside,  then,  these  bugbears,  gentle- 
Hoor.  men,  what  are  the  obvious  duties  of  the  hour  ? 

First,  hold  what  you  are  entitled  to.  If 
you  are  ever  to  part  with  it,  wait  at  least  till 
you  have  examined  it  and  found  out  that 
you  have  no  use  for  it.  Before  yielding  to 
temporary  difficulties  at  the  outset,  take  time 
to  be  quite  sure  you  are  ready  now  to  aban- 
don your  chance  for  a  commanding  position 
in  the  trade  of  China,  in  the  commercial  con- 
trol of  the  Pacific  Ocean,  and  in  the  richest 
commercial  development  of  the  approaching 
century. 
Next,  resist  admission  of  any  of  our  new 


PtJEPOET  OF  THE  TREATY  45 

possessions  as  States,  or  their  organization 
on  a  plan  designed  to  prepare  them  for  ad- 
mission. Stand  firm  for  the  present  Ameri- 
can Union  of  sister  States,  undiluted  by 
anybody's  archipelagos. 

Make  this  fight  easiest  by  making  it  at 
the  beginning.  Eesist  the  first  insidious 
effort  to  change  the  character  of  this  Union 
by  leaving  the  continent.  The  danger  com- 
mences with  the  first  extra-continental  State. 
We  want  no  Porto  Ricans  or  Cubans  to  be 
sending  Senators  and  Representatives  to 
Washington  to  help  govern  the  American 
Continent,  any  more  than  we  want  Kanakas 
or  Tagals  or  Yisayans  or  Mohammedan 
Malays.  We  will  do  them  good  and  not 
harm,  if  we  may,  all  the  days  of  our  life; 
but,  please  God,  we  will  not  divide  this  Re- 
public, the  heritage  of  our  fathers,  among 
them. 

Resist  the  crazy  extension  of  the  doctrine 
that  government  derives  its  just  powers 
from  the  consent  of  the  governed  to  an 
extreme  never  imagined  by  the  men  who 
framed  it,  and  never  for  one  moment  acted 
upon  in  their  own  practice.  Why  should 
we  force  Jefferson's  language  to  a  meaning 
Jefferson  himself  never  gave  it  in  dealing 
with  the  people  of  Louisiana,  or  Andrew 
Jackson  in  dealing  with  those  of  South  Car- 
olina, or  Abraham  Lincoln  with  the  seceding 


46  PK0BLEM8   OF  EXPANSION 

States,  or  any  responsible  statesman  of  the 
country  at  any  period  in  its  history  in  deal- 
ing with  Indians  or  New  Mexicans  or  Cal- 
ifornians  or  Russians?  What  have  the 
Tagals  done  for  us  that  we  should  treat 
them  better  and  put  them  on  a  plane  higher 
than  any  of  these ! 

And  next,  resist  alike  either  schemes  for 
purely  military  governments,  or  schemes  for 
territorial  civil  governments,  with  oflSces  to 
be  filled  up,  according  to  the  old  custom,  by 
"  carpet-baggers  ^  from  the  United  States,  on 
an  allotment  of  increased  patronage,  fairly 
divided  among  the  "  bosses  "  of  the  different 
States.  Egypt  under  Lord  Cromer  is  an 
object-lesson  of  what  may  be  done  in  a  more 
excellent  way  by  men  of  our  race  in  dealing 
with  such  a  problem.  Better  still,  and  right 
under  our  eyes,  is  the  successful  solution  of 
the  identical  problem  that  confronts  us,  in 
the  English  organization  and  administration 
of  the  federated  Malay  States  on  the  Malacca 
Peninsula. 

The  Opposi-  I  ^VISH  to  spcak  with  respect  of  the  sincere 
as*"webste*r  ^^^  conscientious  opposition  to  all  these 
conclusions,  manifest  chiefly  in  the  East  and 
in  the  Senate ;  and  with  especial  respect  of 
the  eminent  statesman  who  has  headed  that 
opposition.  No  man  will  question  his  abil- 
ity, his  moral  elevation,  or  the  courage  with 


PUBPORT  OF  THE  TREATY  47 

which  he  follows  his  intellectual  and  moral 
convictions.  But  I  may  be  permitted  to  re- 
mind you  that  the  noble  State  he  worthily 
represents  is  not  now  counted  for  the  first 
time  against  the  interest  and  the  development 
of  the  country.  In  February,  1848,  Daniel 
Webster,  speaking  for  the  same  great  State 
and  in  the  same  high  forum,  conjured  up 
precisely  the  same  visions  of  the  destruction 
of  the  Constitution,  and  proclaimed  the  same 
hostility  to  new  territory.  Pardon  me  while 
I  read  you  half  a  dozen  sentences,  and  note 
how  curiously  they  sound  like  an  echo— or 
a  prophecy— of  what  we  have  lately  been 
hearing  from  the  Senate: 

Will  you  take  peace  without  territory  and  pre- 
serve the  integrity  of  the  Constitution  of  the  coun- 
try ?  .  .  .  I  think  I  see  a  course  adopted  which  is 
likely  to  turn  the  Constitution  of  this  land  into  a 
deformed  monster— into  a  curse  rather  than  a 
blessing.  .  .  .  There  would  not  be  two  hundred 
families  of  persons  who  would  emigrate  from  the 
United  States  to  New  Mexico  for  agricultural  pur- 
poses in  fifty  years.  ...  I  have  never  heard  of 
anything,  and  I  cannot  conceive  of  anything,  more 
absurd  and  more  affrontive  of  all  sober  judgment 
than  the  cry  that  we  are  getting  indemnity  by  the 
acquisition  of  New  Mexico  and  California.  I  hold 
that  they  are  not  worth  a  dollar ! 

It  was  merely  that   splendid  empire  in 


48  PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

itself,  stretching  from  Los  Angeles  and  San 
Francisco  eastward  to  Denver,  that  was  thus 
despised  and  rejected  of  Massachusetts. 
And  it  was  only  fifty  years  ago!  With 
all  due  respect,  a  gi*eat  spokesman  of  Mas- 
sachusetts is  as  liable  to  mistake  in  this 
generation  as  in  the  last. 

Lack  of  Faith  It  is  fair,  I  think,  to  say  that  this  whole 
In  the  People,  hesitation  over  the  treaty  of  peace  is  abso- 
lutely due  to  lack  of  faith  in  our  own  people, 
distrust  of  the  methods  of  administration 
they  may  employ  in  the  government  of  dis- 
tant possessions,  and  distrust  of  tlieir  ability 
to  resist  the  schemes  of  demagogues  for  pro- 
moting the  ultimate  admission  of  Kanaka 
and  Malay  and  half-breed  commonwealths 
to  help  govern  the  continental  Republic  of 
our  pride,  this  homogeneous  American  Union 
of  sovereign  States.  If  there  is  real  reason 
to  fear  that  the  American  people  cannot  re- 
strain themselves  from  throwing  open  the 
doors  of  their  Senate  and  House  of  Eepre- 
sentatives  to  such  sister  States  as  Luzon,  or 
the  Visayas,  or  the  Sandwich  Islands,  or 
Porto  Eico,  or  even  Cuba,  then  the  sooner 
we  beg  some  civilized  nation,  with  more 
common  sense  and  less  sentimentality  and 
gush,  to  take  them  off  our  hands  the  better. 
If  we  are  unequal  to  a  manly  and  intelligent 
discharge  of  the  responsibilities  the  war  has 


PURPORT  OF  THE  TREATY  49 

entailed,  then  let  us  confess  our  unworthi- 
ness,  and  beg  Japan  to  assume  the  duties  of 
a  civilized  Christian  state  toward  the  Philip- 
pines, while  England  can  extend  the  same 
relief  to  us  in  Cuba  and  Porto  Eico.  But 
having  thus  ignominiously  shirked  the  posi- 
tion demanded  by  our  belligerency  and  our 
success,  let  us  never  again  presume  to  take 
a  place  among  the  self-respecting  and  re- 
sponsible nations  of  the  earth  that  can  ever 
lay  us  liable  to  another  such  task.  If  called 
to  it,  let  us  at  the  outset  admit  our  unfitness, 
withdraw  within  our  own  borders,  and  leave 
these  larger  duties  of  the  world  to  less  inca- 
pable races  or  less  craven  rulers. 

Far  other  and  brighter  are  the  hopes  I 
have  ventured  to  cherish  concerning  the 
course  of  the  American  people  in  this  emer- 
gency. I  have  thought  there  was  encourage- 
ment for  nations  as  well  as  for  individuals 
in  remembering  the  sobering  and  steadying 
influence  of  great  responsibilities  suddenly 
devolved.  When  Prince  Hal  comes  to  the 
crown  he  is  apt  to  abjure  Falstaif.  When 
we  come  to  the  critical  and  dangerous  ^ork 
of  controlling  turbulent  semi-tropical  de- 
pendencies, the  agents  we  choose  cannot  be 
the  ward  heelers  of  the  local  bosses.  Now, 
if  ever,  is  the  time  to  rally  the  brain  and 
conscience  of  the  American  people  to  a  real 
elevation  and  purification  of  their  Civil  Ser- 


50  PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

vice,  to  the  most  exalted  standards  of  public 
duty,  to  the  most  strenuous  and  united  effort 
of  all  men  of  good  will  to  make  our  Grov- 
ernment  worthy  of  the  new  and  great  re- 
sponsibilities which  the  Providence  of  God 
rather  than  any  purpose  of  man  has  imposed 
upon  it. 


IV 


THE   DUTIES  OF  PEACE 


A  speech  made  at  the  dinner  given  by  the  Ohio  Society 
in  honor  of  the  Peace  Commissioners,  in  the  Waldorf-Astoria 
Hotel,  New  York,  February  25,  1899. 


I 


THE   DUTIES   OF  PEACE 


YOU  call  and  I  obey.  Any  call  from 
Ohio,  wherever  it  finds  me,  is  at  once 
a  distinction  and  a  duty.  But  it  would  be 
easier  to-night  and  more  natural  for  me  to 
remain  silent.  I  am  one  of  yourselves,  the 
givers  of  the  feast,  and  the  occasion  belongs 
peculiarly  to  my  colleagues  on  the  Peace 
Commission.  I  regret  that  more  of  them 
are  not  here  to  tell  you  in  person  how  pro- 
foundly we  all  appreciate  the  compliment  you 
pay  us.  Judge  Day,  after  an  experience  and 
strain  the  like  of  which  few  Americans  of 
this  generation  have  so  suddenly  and  so 
successfully  met,  is  seeking  to  regain  his 
strength  at  the  South ;  Senator  Frye,  at  the 
close  of  an  anxious  session,  finds  his  respon- 
sible duties  in  Washington  too  exacting  to 
permit  even  a  day's  absence;  and  Senator 
Davis,  who  could  not  leave  the  care  of  the 
treaty  to  visit  his  State  even  when  his  own 
reelection  was  pending,  has  at  last  snatched 
the  first  moment  of  relief  since  he  was  sent 
to  Paris  last  summer,  to  go  out  to  St.  Paul 


53 


54  PEOBLEMS   OF   EXPANSION 

and  meet  the  constituents  who  have  in  his 
absence  renewed  to  him  the  crown  of  a  good 
and  faithful  servant. 

It  is  all  the  more  fortunate,  therefore,  that 
you  are  honored  by  the  presence  of  the  pa- 
triotic member  of  the  opposition  who  formed 
the  regulator  and  balance-wheel  of  the  Com- 
mission. When  Senator  Gray  objected,  we 
all  reexamined  the  processes  of  our  reasoning. 
When  he  assented,  we  knew  at  once  we  must 
be  on  solid  ground  and  went  ahead.  It  was 
an  expected  gratification  to  have  with  you 
also  the  accomplished  secretary  and  counsel 
to  the  Commission,  a  man  as  modest  and 
unobtrusive  as  its  president,  and,  like  him, 
equal  to  any  summons.  In  his  regretted 
absence,  we  rejoice  to  find  here  the  most 
distinguished  military  aid  ordered  to  report 
to  the  Commission,  and  the  most  important 
witness  before  it — the  Conqueror  of  Manila. 

So  much  you  will  permit  me  to  say  in  my 
capacity  as  one  of  the  hosts,  rather  than  as 
a  member  of  the  body  to  which  you  pay  this 
gracious  compliment. 

It  is  not  for  me  to  speak  of  another  figure 
necessarily  missing  to-night,  though  often 
with  you  heretofore  at  th^se  meetings— the 
member  of  the  Ohio  Society  who  sent  us  to 
Paris !  A  great  and  shining  record  already 
speaks  for  him.  He  will  be  known  in  our 
history  as  the  President  who  freed  America 


THE  DUTIES   OF  PEACE  55 

from  the  last  trace  of  Spanish  blight;  who 
realized  the  aspiration  of  our  earlier  states- 
men, cherished  by  the  leaders  of  either  party 
through  three  quarters  of  a  century,  for 
planting  the  flag  both  on  Cuba  and  on  the 
Sandwich  Islands;  more  than  this,  as  the 
President  who  has  carried  that  flag  half- 
way round  the  world  and  opened  the  road 
for  the  trade  of  the  Nation  to  follow  it. 

All  this  came  from  simply  doing  his  duty 
from  day  to  day,  as  that  duty  was  forced 
upon  him.  No  other  man  in  the  United 
States  held  back  from  war  as  he  did,  risking 
loss  of  popularity,  risking  the  hostility  of 
Congress,  risking  the  harsh  judgment  of 
friends  in  agonizing  for  peace.  It  was  no 
doubt  in  the  spirit  of  the  Prince  of  Peace, 
but  it  was  also  with  the  wisdom  of  Polonius : 
"  Beware  of  entrance  to  a  quarrel ;  but,  being 
in,  bear  it,  that  the  opposer  may  beware  of 
thee !  "  Never  again  will  any  nation  imagine 
that  it  can  trespass  indefinitely  against  the 
United  States  with  impunity.  Never  again 
will  an  American  war- ship  run  greater  risks 
in  a  peaceful  harbor  than  in  battle.  The 
world  will  never  again  be  in  doubt  whether, 
when  driven  to  war,  we  will  end  it  in  a  gush 
of  sentimentality  or  a  shiver  of  unmanly 
apprehension  over  untried  responsibilities, 
by  fleeing  from  our  plain  duty,  and  hasten- 
ing to  give  up  what  we  are  entitled  to,  be- 


56  PEOBLEMS   OF  EXPANSION 

fore  we  have  even  taken  an  opportunity  to 
look  at  it. 

Does  Peace  BuT  it  must  be  confessed  that  "  looking  at 
Pacify?  'i-w  during  the  past  week  has  not  been  an 
altogether  cheerful  occupation.  While  the 
aspect  of  some  of  these  new  possessions  re- 
mains so  frowning  there  are  faint  hearts 
ready  enough  to  say  that  the  Peace  Com- 
mission is  in  no  position  to  be  receiving 
compliments.  Does  protection  protect!  is 
an  old  question  that  used  to  be  thrown  in 
our  faces — though  I  believe  even  the  ques- 
tioners finally  made  up  their  minds  that  it 
did.  Does  peace  pacify!  is  the  question  of 
the  hour.  Well,  as  to  our  original  antago- 
nist, historic,  courageous  Spain,  there  seems 
gi'ound  to  hope  and  believe  and  be  glad  that 
it  does— not  merely  toward  us,  but  within 
her  own  borders.  When  she  jettisoned  cargo 
that  had  already  shifted  ruinously,  there  is 
reason  to  think  that  she  averted  disaster  and 
saved  the  ship.  Then,  as  to  Porto  Eico  there 
is  no  doubt  of  peace ;  and  as  to  Cuba  very 
little— although  it  would  be  too  much  to 
hope  that  her  twelve  years  of  civil  war  could 
be  followed  by  an  absolute  calm,  without 
disorders. 

As  to  other  possessions  in  the  farther 
East,  we  may  as  well  recognize  at  once  that 
we  are  dealing  now  with  the  same  sort  of 


THE   DUTIES   OF  PEACE  57 

clever  barbarians  as  in  the  earlier  days  of  the 
Republic,  when,  on  another  ocean  not  then 
less  distant,  we  were  compelled  to  encounter 
the  Algerine  pirates.  But  there  is  this 
difference.  Then  we  merely  chastised  the 
Algerines  into  letting  us  and  our  commerce 
alone.  The  permanent  policing  of  that  coast 
of  the  Mediterranean  was  not  imposed  upon 
us  by  surrounding  circumstances,  or  by  any 
act  of  ours;  it  belonged  to  nearer  nations. 
Now  a  war  we  made  has  broken  down  the 
only  authority  that  existed  to  protect  the 
commerce  of  the  world  in  one  of  its  greatest 
Eastern  thoroughfares,  and  to  preserve  the 
lives  and  property  of  people  of  all  nations 
resorting  to  those  marts.  We  broke  it  down, 
and  we  cannot,  dare  not,  display  the  cow- 
ardice and  selfishness  of  failing  to  replace  it. 
However  men  may  differ  as  to  our  future 
policy  in  those  regions,  there  can  be  no 
difference  as  to  our  present  duty.  It  is  as 
plain  as  that  of  putting  down  a  riot  in  Chi- 
cago or  New  York— all  the  plainer  because, 
until  recently,  we  have  ourselves  been  tak- 
ing the  very  course  and  doing  the  very 
things  to  encourage  the  rioters. 

A  DISTINGUISHED  and  patriotic  citizen  said  Why  Take 
to  me  the  other  day,  in  a  Western  city ;  "  You  g^^^^y 
might  have  avoided  this  trouble  in  the  Sen- 
ate by  refusing  title  in  the  Philippines  ex- 


68  PBOBLEMS   OF  EXPANSION 

actly  as  in  Cuba,  and  simply  enforcing 
renunciation  of  Spanish  sovereignty.  Why 
did  n't  you  do  it !  "  The  question  is  impor- 
tant, and  the  reason  ought  to  be  understood. 
But  at  the  outset  it  should  be  clearly  real- 
ized that  the  circumstances  which  made  it 
possible  to  take  that  course  as  to  Cuba  were 
altogether  exceptional.  For  three  quarters 
of  a  century  we  had  asserted  a  special  inter- 
est and  right  of  interference  there  as  against 
any  other  nation.  The  island  is  directly  on 
our  coast,  and  no  one  doubted  that  at  least 
as  much  order  as  in  the  past  would  be  pre- 
served there,  even  if  we  had  to  do  it  our- 
selves. There  was  also  the  positive  action 
of  Congress,  which,  on  the  one  hand,  gave 
us  excuse  for  refusing  a  sovereignty 
our  highest  legislative  authority  had  dis- 
claimed, and,  on  the  other,  formally  cast 
the  shield  of  our  responsibility  over  Cuba 
when  left  without  a  government  or  a  sov- 
ereignty. Besides,  there  was  a  people 
there,  advanced  enough,  sufficiently  com- 
pact and  homogeneous  in  religion,  race,  and 
language,  sufficiently  used  already  to  the 
methods  of  government,  to  warrant  our 
republican  claim  that  the  sovereignty  was 
not  being  left  in  the  air— that  it  was  only 
left  where,  in  the  last  analysis,  in  a  civilized 
community,  it  must  always  reside,  in  the 
people  themselves. 


THE  DUTIES   OF  PEACE  59 

And  yet,  under  all  these  conditions,  the 
most  difficult  task  your  Peace  Commis- 
sioners had  at  Paris  was  to  maintain  and 
defend  the  demand  for  a  renunciation  of 
sovereignty  without  anybody's  acceptance 
of  the  sovereignty  thus  renounced.  Inter- 
national Law  has  not  been  so  understood 
abroad;  and  it  may  be  frankly  confessed 
that  the  Spanish  arguments  were  learned, 
acute,  sustained  by  the  general  judgment  of 
Europe,  and  not  easy  to  refute. 

A  similar  demand  concerning  the  Philip- 
pines neither  could  nor  ought  to  have  been 
acquiesced  in  by  the  civilized  world.  Here 
were  ten  millions  of  people  on  a  great  high- 
way of  commerce,  of  numerous  different 
races,  different  languages,  different  reli- 
gions, some  semi-civilized,  some  barbarous, 
others  mere  pagan  savages,  but  without  a 
majority  or  even  a  respectable  minority  of 
them  accustomed  to  self-government  or  be- 
lieved to  be  capable  of  it.  Sovereignty  over 
such  a  conglomeration  and  in  such  a  place 
could  not  be  left  in  the  air.  The  civilized 
world  would  not  recognize  its  transfer,  un- 
less transferred  to  somebody.  Renunciation 
under  such  circumstances  would  have  been 
equivalent  in  International  Law  to  abandon- 
ment, and  that  would  have  been  equivalent 
to  anarchy  and  a  race  for  seizure  among  the 
nations  that  could  get  there  quickest. 


60  PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

We  could,  of  course,  have  refused  to  ac- 
cept the  obligations  of  a  civilized,  responsible 
nation.  After  breaking  down  government 
in  those  commercial  centers,  we  could  have 
refused  to  set  up  anything  in  its  stead,  and 
simply  washed  our  hands  of  the  whole  busi- 
ness; but  to  do  that  would  have  been  to 
show  ourselves  more  insensible  to  moral 
obligations  than  if  we  had  restored  them 
outright  to  Spain. 

How  to  Deal  Well,  if  the  elephant  must  be  on  our 
PhiUppines.  ^^^^^s,  what  are  we  going  to  do  with  it!  I 
venture  to  answer  that  first  we  must  put 
down  the  riot.  The  lives  and  property  of 
German  and  British  merchants  must  be  at 
least  as  safe  in  Manila  as  they  were  under 
Spanish  rule  before  we  are  ready  for  any 
other  step  whatever. 

Next,  ought  we  not  to  try  to  diagnose  our 
case  before  we  turn  every  quack  doctor 
among  us  loose  on  it— understand  what 
the  problem  is  before  beginning  heated  par- 
tizan  discussions  as  to  the  easiest  way  of 
solving  it  I  And  next,  shall  we  not  probably 
fare  best  in  the  end  if  we  try  to  profit  some- 
what by  the  experience  others  have  had  in 
like  cases  ? 

The  widest  experience  has  been  had  by 
the  gi^eat  nation  whose  people  and  institu- 
tions are  nearest  like  our  own.    Illustrations 


THE  DUTIES   OF  PEACE  61 

of  her  successful  methods  may  be  found  in 
Egypt  and  in  many  British  dependencies, 
but,  for  our  purposes,  probably  best  of 
all  either  on  the  Malay  Peninsula  or  on  the 
north  coast  of  Borneo,  where  she  has  had 
the  happiest  results  in  dealing  with  intrac- 
table types  of  the  worst  of  these  same  races. 
Some  rules  drawn  from  this  experience 
might  be  distasteful  to  people  who  look 
upon  new  possessions  as  merely  so  much 
more  government  patronage,  and  quite  re- 
pugnant to  the  noble  army  of  office-seekers ; 
but  they  surely  mark  the  path  of  safety. 

The  first  is  to  meddle  at  the  outset  as  little 
as  possible  with  every  native  custom  and  in- 
stitution and  even  prejudice ;  the  next  is  to 
use  every  existing  native  agency  you  can; 
and  the  next  to  employ  in  the  government 
service  just  as  few  Americans  as  you  can, 
and  only  of  the  best.  Convince  the  natives  of 
your  irresistible  power  and  your  inexorable 
purpose,  then  of  your  desire  to  be  absolutely 
just,  and  after  that— not  before— be  as  kind 
as  you  can.  At  the  outset  you  will  doubt- 
less find  your  best  agents  among  the  trained 
officers  of  the  Navy  and  the  Army,  particu- 
larly the  former.  On  the  retired  list  of  both, 
but  again  particularly  of  the  Navy,  ought  to 
be  found  just  the  experience  in  contact  with 
foreign  races,  the  moderation,  wide  views,  jus- 
tice, rigid  method,  and  inflexible  integrity, 


62  PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

you  need.  Later  on  should  come  a  real  civil 
service,  with  such  pure  and  efficient  adminis- 
tration abroad  as  might  help  us  ultimately 
to  conclude  that  we  ourselves  deserve  as 
well  as  the  heathen,  and  induce  us  to  set  up 
similar  standards  for  our  own  service  at 
home.  Meantime,  if  we  have  taught  the 
heathen  largely  to  govern  themselves  with- 
out being  a  hindrance  and  menace  to  the 
civilization  and  the  commerce  of  the  world, 
so  much  the  better.  Heaven  speed  the  day ! 
If  not,  we  must  even  continue  to  be  respon- 
sible for  them  ourselves— a  duty  we  did  not 
seek,  but  should  be  ashamed  to  shirk. 


THE  OPEN  DOOR 


A  speech  made  at  the  dinner  given  by  the  American- 
Asiatic  Association  in  honoi*  of  Rear- Admiral  Lord  Charles 
Beresford,  at  Delmonieo's,  New  York,  February  23,  1899. 


THE   OPEN  DOOE 


njlHE  hour  is  late,  you  have  already  en- 
X  joyed  your  intellectual  feast,  you  have 
heard  the  man  you  came  to  hear,  and  I  shall 
detain  you  for  but  a  moment.  The  guest 
whom  we  are  all  here  to  honor  and  applaud 
is  returning  from  a  journey  designed  to 
promote  the  safety  and  extension  of  his 
country's  trade  in  the  Chinese  Orient.  He 
has  probably  been  accustomed  to  think  of 
us  as  the  most  extreme  Protectionist  nation 
in  the  world ;  and  he  may  have  heard  at  first 
of  our  recent  acquisition  on  the  China  Sea 
with  some  apprehension  on  that  very  ac- 
count. 

Now,  there  are  two  facts  that  might  be  united  states 
somewhat  suggestive  to  any  who  take  that  ^ '^''^5^°^'"***® 
view.  One  is  that,  though  we  may  be  "en- 
raged Protectionists,"  as  our  French  friends 
occasionally  call  us,  we  have  rarely  sought 
to  extend  the  protective  system  where  we 
had  nothing  and  could  develop  nothing  to 
protect.     The  other  is  that  we  are  also  the 

5  65 


66  PROBLEMS   OF  EXPANSION 

greatest  free-trade  country  in  the  world. 
Nowhere  else  on  the  globe  does  absolute 
free  trade  prevail  over  so  wide,  rich,  and 
continuous  an  expanse  of  territory,  with  sucli 
variety  and  volume  of  production  and  man- 
ufacture; and  nowhere  have  its  beneficent 
results  been  more  conspicuous.  From  the 
Golden  Gate  your  guest  has  crossed  a  conti- 
nent teeming  with  population  and  manufac- 
tures without  encountering  a  custom-house. 
If  he  had  come  back  from  China  the  other 
way,  from  Suez  to  London,  he  would  have 
passed  a  dozen ! 

When  your  Peace  Commissioners  were 
brought  face  to  face  with  the  retention  of 
the  Philippines,  they  were  at  liberty  to  con- 
sider the  question  it  raised  for  immediate 
action  in  the  light  of  both  sides  of  the 
national  practice.  Here  was  an  archipelago 
practically  without  manufactures  to  protect, 
or  need  for  protection  to  develop  manufac- 
tures ;  and  here  were  swanning  populations 
with  whom  trade  was  sure  to  increase  and 
ramify,  in  proportion  to  its  freedom  from 
obstructions.  Thus  it  came  about  that  your 
Commissioners  were  led  to  a  view  which  to 
many  has  seemed  a  new  departure,  and 
were  finally  enabled  to  preface  an  offer  to 
Spain  with  the  remark  that  it  was  the  policy 
of  the  United  States  to  maintain  in  the 
Philippines  an   open  door   to  the  world's 


Door. 


THE  OPEN  DOOE  67 

commerce.  Great  Protectionist  leader  as 
the  President  is  and  long  has  been,  he 
sanctioned  the  declaration ;  and  Protection- 
ist as  is  the  Senate,  it  ratified  the  pledge. 

Under  treaty  guaranty  Spain  is  now  en-  The  open 
titled  to  the  Open  Door  in  the  Philippines 
for  ten  years.  Under  the  most  favored  na- 
tion clause,  what  is  thus  secured  to  Spain 
would  not  be  easily  refused,  even  if  any  one 
desired  it,  to  any  other  nation ;  and  the  door 
that  stands  open  there  for  the  next  ten  years 
will  by  that  time  have  such  a  rising  tide  of 
trade  pouring  through  it  from  the  awakening 
East  that  no  man  thenceforward  can  ever 
close  it. 

There  are  two  ways  of  dealing  with  the 
trade  of  a  distant  dependency.  You  may 
give  such  advantage  to  your  own  people  as 
practically  to  exclude  everybody  else.  That 
was  the  Spanish  way.  That  is  the  French 
way.  Neither  nation  has  grown  rich  of  late 
on  its  colonial  extensions.  Again,  you  may 
impose  such  import  or  export  duties  as  will 
raise  the  revenue  needed  for  the  government 
of  the  territory,  to  be  paid  by  all  comers  at 
its  ports  on  a  basis  of  absolute  equality.  In 
some  places  that  is  the  British  way.  Hence- 
forth, in  the  Philippines,  that  is  the  United 
States  way.  The  Dingley  tariff  is  not  to  be 
transferred  to  the  antipodes. 


68  PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

Protectionists  or  Free-traders,  I  believe 
we  may  all  rejoice  in  this  as  best  for  the 
Philippines  and  best  for  ourselves.  I  ven- 
ture to  think  that  we  may  rejoice  over  it, 
too,  with  your  distinguished  guest.  It  en- 
ables Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  to 
preserve  a  common  interest  and  present  a 
common  front  in  the  enormous  commercial 
development  in  the  East  that  must  attend 
the  awakening  of  the  Chinese  Colossus ;  and 
whenever  and  wherever  Great  Britain  and 
the  United  States  stand  together,  the  peace 
and  the  civilization  of  the  world  will  be  the 
better  for  it. 


I 


VI 


SOME  CONSEQUENCES  OF   THE 
TEEATY  OP  PAEIS 


This  discussion  of  the  advances  in  International  Law  and 
changes  in  national  policy  traceable  to  the  negotiations 
that  ended  in  the  Peace  of  Paris,  was  written  in  March,  for 
the  first  number  of  "The  Anglo-Saxon  Review"  (then  an- 
nounced for  May),  which  appeared  in  June,  1899. 


I 


SOME  CONSEQUENCES   OF  THE 
TEEATY  OF  PARIS 


N  1823  Thomas  Jefferson,  writing  from 
the  retirement  of  Monticello  to  James 
Monroe,  then  President  of  the  United 
States,   said : 

Great  Britain  is  the  nation  which  can  do  us  the 
most  harm  of  any  one  on  all  the  earth,  and  with 
her  on  our  side  we  need  not  fear  the  world.  With 
her,  then,  we  should  most  sedulously  cherish  a 
cordial  friendship,  and  nothing  would  tend  more 
to  knit  our  affections  than  to  be  fighting  once 
more,  side  by  side,  in  the  same  cause. 

As  these  lines  are  written,^  the  thing 
which  Jefferson  looked  forward  to  has,  in 
a  small  way,  come  to  pass.  For  the  first 
time  under  government  orders  since  British 
regulars  and  the  militia  of  the  American 
colonies  fought  Indians  on  Lake  Champlain 
and  the  French  in  Canada,  the  Briton  and 
the  American  have  been  fighting  side  by 

1  The  request  of  the  editor    ter  the  British  and  American 
for  the  preparation  of   this    forces  had  their  conflict  with 
article  was  received  just  af-    the  natives  in  Samoa. 
71 


72  PBOBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

side,  and  again  against  savages.  In  a  larger 
sense,  too,  they  are  at  last  embarked  side  by 
side  in  the  Eastern  duty,  devolved  on  each, 
of  "bearing  the  white  man's  burden."  It 
seems  natural,  now,  to  count  on  such  a 
friendly  British  interest  in  present  Ameri- 
can problems  as  may  make  welcome  a  brief 
statement  of  some  things  that  were  settled 
by  the  late  Peace  of  Paris,  and  some  that 
were  unsettled. 

Whether  treaties  really  settle  Interna- 
tional Law  is  itself  an  unsettled  point.  Eng- 
lish and  American  writers  incline  to  give 
them  less  weight  in  that  regard  than  is 
the  habit  of  the  great  Continental  authori- 
ties. But  it  is  reasonable  to  think  that 
some  of  the  points  insisted  upon  by  the 
United  States  in  the  Treaty  of  Paris  will  be 
precedents  as  weighty,  henceforth,  in  inter- 
national policy  as  they  are  now  novel  to  in- 
ternational practice.  If  not  International 
Law  yet,  they  probably  will  be ;  and  it  is  con- 
fidently assumed  that  they  will  command  the 
concurrence  of  the  British  government  and 
people,  as  well  as  of  the  most  intelligent  and 
dispassionate  judgment  on  the  Continent. 

WhenArbi-    The  distinct  and   prompt    refusal  by  the 
Inadmissible.  American  Commissioners  to  submit  ques- 
tions at  issue  between  them  and  their  Span- 
ish colleagues  to  arbitration  marks  a  limit 


SOME  CONSEQUENCES  OF  THE  TREATY   73 

to  the  application  of  that  principle  in  inter- 
national controversy  which  even  its  friends 
will  be  apt  hereafter  to  welcome.  No  civi- 
lized nation  is  more  thoroughly  committed 
to  the  policy  of  international  arbitration 
than  the  United  States.  The  Spanish  Com- 
missioners were  able  to  reinforce  their  ap- 
peal for  it  by  striking  citations  from  the 
American  record:  the  declaration  of  the 
Senate  of  Massachusetts,  as  early  as  1835, 
in  favor  of  an  international  court  for  the 
peaceful  settlement  of  all  disputes  between 
nations;  the  action  of  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States  in  1853,  favoring  a  clause  in 
all  future  treaties  with  foreign  countries 
whereby  difficulties  that  could  not  be  set- 
tled by  diplomacy  should  be  referred  to 
arbitrators;  the  concurrence  of  the  two 
Houses,  twenty  years  later,  in  reaffirming 
this  principle;  and  at  last  their  joint  reso- 
lution, in  1888,  requesting  the  President  to 
secure  agreements  to  that  end  with  all 
nations  with  whom  he  maintained  diplo- 
matic intercourse. 

But  the  American  Commissioners  at  once 
made  it  clear  that  the  rational  place  for  ar- 
bitration is  as  a  substitute  for  war,  not  as  a 
second  remedy,  to  which  the  contestant  may 
still  have  a  right  to  resort  after  having  ex- 
hausted the  first.  In  the  absence  of  the 
desired  obligation  to  arbitrate,  the  dissat- 


74  PKOBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

isfied  nation,  according  to  the  American 
theory,  may  have,  after  diplomacy  has  com- 
pletely failed,  a  choice  of  remedies,  but  not 
a  double  remedy.  It  may  choose  arbitra- 
tion, or  it  may  choose  war ;  but  the  Ameri- 
can Commissioners  flatly  refused  to  let  it 
choose  war,  and  then,  after  defeat,  claim 
still  the  right  to  call  in  arbitrators  and  put 
again  at  risk  before  them  the  verdict  of  war. 
Arbitration  comes  before  war,  they  insisted, 
to  avert  its  horrors ;  not  after  war,  to  afford 
the  defeated  party  a  chance  yet  to  escape 
its  consequences. 

The  principle  thus  stated  is  thought  self- 
evidently  sound  and  just.  Americans  were 
surprised  to  find  how  completely  it  was  over- 
looked in  the  contemporaneous  European 
discussion— how  general  was  the  sympathy 
with  the  Spanish  request  for  arbitration, 
and  how  naif  the  apparently  genuine  sur- 
prise at  the  instant  and  unqualified  refusal 
to  consider  it.  Even  English  voices  joined 
in  the  chorus  of  encouraging  approval  that, 
from  every  quarter  in  Europe,  greeted  the 
formal  Spanish  appeal  for  an  opportunity 
to  try  over  in  another  forum  the  questions 
they  had  already  submitted  to  the  arbitra- 
ment of  arms.  The  more  clearly  the  Amer- 
ican view  is  now  recognized  and  accepted, 
the  greater  must  be  the  tendency  in  the  fu- 
ture to  seek  arbitration  at  the  outset.    To 


SOME  CONSEQUENCES  OF  THE  TREATY   75 

refuse  arbitration  when  only  sought  at  the 
end  of  war,  and  as  a  means  of  escaping  its 
consequences,  is  certainly  to  stimulate  ef- 
forts for  averting  war  at  the  beginning  of 
difficulties  by  means  of  arbitration.  The 
refusal  prevents  such  degradation  of  a  noble 
reform  to  an  ignoble  end  as  would  make 
arbitration  the  refuge,  not  of  those  who  wish 
to  avoid  war,  but  only  of  those  who  have 
preferred  war  and  been  beaten  at  it.  The 
American  precedent  should  thus  become  a 
powerful  influence  for  promoting  the  cause 
of  genuine  international  arbitration,  and 
so  for  the  preservation  of  peace  between 
nations. 

Equally  unexpected  and  important  to  the  Does  Debt 
development  of  ordered  liberty  and  good  grjigntyr' 
government  in  the  world  was  the  American 
refusal  to  accept  any  responsibility,  for 
themselves  or  for  the  Cubans,  on  account 
of  the  so-called  Cuban  debt.  The  principle 
asserted  from  the  outset  by  the  American 
Commissioners,  and  finally  maintained,  in 
negotiating  the  Peace  of  Paris,  was  that  a 
national  debt  incurred  in  efforts  to  subdue 
a  colony,  even  if  called  a  colonial  debt,  or 
secured  by  a  pledge  of  colonial  revenues, 
cannot  be  attached  in  the  nature  of  a  mort- 
gage to  the  territory  of  that  colony,  so  that 
when  the  colony  gains  its  independence  it 


76  PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

may  still  be  held  for  the  cost  of  the  un- 
successful efforts  to  keep  it  in  subjection. 

The  first  intimations  that  no  part  of  the 
so-called  Cuban  debt  would  either  be  as- 
sumed by  the  United  States  or  transferred 
with  the  territory  to  the  Cubans,  were  met 
with  an  outcry  from  every  bourse  in  Europe. 
Bankers,  investors,  and  the  financial  world 
in  general  had  taken  it  for  gi-anted  that 
bonds  which  had  been  regularly  issued  by 
the  Power  exercising  sovereignty  over  the 
territory,  and  which  specifically  pledged  the 
revenues  of  custom-houses  in  that  territory 
for  the  payment  of  the  interest  and  ulti- 
mately of  the  principal,  must  be  recognized. 
Not  to  do  it,  they  said,  would  be  bald, 
unblushing  repudiation  —  a  thing  least 
to  be  looked  for  or  tolerated  in  a  nation 
of  spotless  credit  and  great  wealth,  which 
in  past  times  of  trial  had  made  many 
sacrifices  to  preserve  its  financial  honor 
untarnished. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  modern  pre- 
cedents were  not  altogether  in  favor  of  the 
American  position.  Treaties  ceding  ter- 
ritory not  infrequently  provide  for  the 
assumption  by  the  new  sovereign  of  a  pro- 
portional part  of  the  general  obligations  of 
the  ceding  state.  This  is  usually  true  when 
the  territory  ceded  is  so  considerable  as  to 
form  an  important  portion  of  the  dismem- 


SOME  CONSEQUENCES  OF  THE  TREATY   77 

bered  country.  Even  "  the  great  conqueror 
of  this  century,"  as  the  Spanish  Commis- 
sioners exclaimed  in  one  of  their  arguments, 
"  never  dared  to  violate  this  rule  of  eternal 
justice  in  any  of  the  treaties  he  concluded 
with  those  sovereigns  whose  territories  he 
appropriated,  in  whole  or  in  part,  as  a  re- 
ward for  his  victories."  They  cited  his  first 
treaty  of  August  24,  1801,  with  Bavaria 
providing  that  the  debts  of  the  duchy  of 
Deux-Ponts,  and  of  that  part  of  the  Palati- 
nate acquired  by  France,  should  follow  the 
countries,  and  challenged  the  production  of 
any  treaty  of  Napoleon's  or  of  any  modern 
treaty  where  the  principle  of  such  transfer 
was  violated. 

They  were  able  to  base  a  stronger  claim 
on  the  precedents  of  the  New  World.  They 
were,  indeed,  betrayed  into  some  curious 
errors.  One  was  that  the  thirteen  original 
States,  at  the  close  of  the  Eevolutionary 
War,  paid  over  to  Great  Britain  fifteen  mil- 
lion pounds  as  their  share  of  the  public  debt. 
Another  was  that  the  payment  of  the  Texas 
debt  by  the  United  States  must  be  a  pre- 
cedent now  for  its  payment  of  the  Cuban 
debt  —  whereas  the  Texas  debt  was  incurred 
by  the  Texas  insurgents  in  their  successful 
war  for  independence,  while  the  Cuban  debt 
was  incurred  by  the  mother  country  in  her 
unsuccessful  effort  to  put  down  the  Cuban 


78  PROBLEMS  OP  EXPANSION 

insurgents.  But  as  to  the  Spanish- American 
republics,  th^y  were  more  nearly  on  solid 
ground.  It  was  true,  and  was  more  to  the 
point  than  most  of  their  other  citations,  that 
every  one  of  these  Spanish- American  repub- 
lics assumed  its  debt,  that  most  of  them  did 
it  before  their  independence  was  recognized, 
and  that  they  gave  these  debts  contracted 
by  Spain  the  preference  over  later  debts 
contracted  by  themselves.  The  language  in 
the  treaty  with  Bolivia  was  particularly 
sweeping.  It  assumed  as  its  own  these  debts 
of  every  kind  whatsoever,  "  including  all  in- 
curred for  pensions,  salaries,  supplies,  ad- 
vances, transportation,  forced  loans,  deposits, 
contracts,  and  any  other  debts  incurred  dur- 
ing war-times  or  prior  thereto,  chargeable 
to  said  treasuries ;  provided  they  were  con- 
tracted by  direct  orders  of  the  Spanish  gov- 
ernment or  its  constituted  authorities  in 
said  territories.''  The  Argentine  Republic 
and  Uruguay,  in  negotiating  their  treaties, 
expressed  the  same  idea  more  tersely :  "  Just 
as  it  acquires  the  rights  and  privileges  be- 
longing to  the  crown  of  Spain,  so  it  also  as- 
sumes all  the  duties  and  obligations  of  the 
crown." 

The  argument  was  certainly  obvious,  and 
at  first  sight  seemed  fair,  that  what  every 
other  revolted  American  colony  of  Spain 
had  done,  on  gaining  its  independence,  the 


SOME  CONSEQUENCES  OF  THE  TKEATY   79 

last  of  the  long  line  should  also  do.  But 
an  examination  shows  that  in  no  case  were 
the  circumstances  such  as  to  make  it  a  fair 
precedent  for  Cuba.  In  the  other  colonies 
the  debts  were  largely  due  to  their  own 
people.  To  a  considerable  extent  they  had 
been  incurred  for  the  prosecution  of  im- 
provements of  a  pacific  character,  generally 
for  the  public  good  and  often  at  the  public 
desire.  Another  part  had  been  spent  in  the 
legitimate  work  of  preserving  public  order 
and  extending  the  advantages  of  govern- 
ment over  wild  regions  and  native  tribes.^ 
The  rich,  compact,  populous  island  of  Cuba 
had  called  for  no  such  loans  up  to  the  time 
when  Spain  had  already  lost  all  of  her 
American  colonies  on  the  continent,  and 
had  consequently  no  other  dependency  on 
which  to  fasten  her  exacting  governor- 
generals  and  hosts  of  other  official  leeches. 
There  was  no   Cuban  debt.     Any   honest 

1  One  of  the  author's  col-  can  republics  in  the  assump- 

leagues  at  Paris,   the   Hon.  tion    of    debts   created    by 

Cushman    K.   Davis,    chair-  Spain.     But  some  reflection 

man    of    the    Foreign    Re-  upon  the  subject  has  caused 

lations     Committee     of    the  that  action  to  lose,   to  me, 

United    States   Senate,    and  much  of  its   apparent  rele- 

among    the    most    scholarly  vancy.     There  was  in  none 

students     of     International  of  those  cases   any   funded 

Law  now  in  American  public  debt,  in  the  sense  of  bond 

life,  says  in  a  private  letter :  obligations,  held  in  the  mar- 
kets  of  the  world.      There 

"  I  was  at  first  very  much  were  two  parties  in  the  va- 

struck  by  the  unanimity  of  rious   Spanish  provinces   of 

action  by  the  South  Ameri-  North  and   South  America, 


80  PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

administration  had  ample  revenues  for  all 
legitimate  expenses,  and  a  surplus ;  and  this 
surplus  seems  not  to  have  been  used  for  the 
benefit  of  the  island,  but  sent  home.  Be- 
tween 1856  and  1861  over  $20,000,000  of 
Cuban  surplus  were  thus  remitted  to  Ma- 
drid. Next  began  a  plan  for  using  Cuban 
credit  as  a  means  of  raising  money  to  re- 
conquer the  lost  dominions ;  and  so  "Cuban 
bonds''  (with  the  guaranty  of  the  Spanish 
nation)  were  issued,  first  for  the  effort  to 
regain  Santo  Domingo,  and  then  for  the  ex- 
pedition to  Mexico.  By  1864  $3,000,000  had 
been  so  issued;  by  1868  $18,000,000— not  at 
the  request  or  with  the  consent  of  the  Cu- 
bans, and  not  for  their  benefit.  Then  com- 
menced the  Cuban  insurrection ;  and  from 
that  time  on,  all  Spain  could  wring  from 
Cuba  or  borrow  in  European  markets  on 
the  pledge  of  Cuban  revenues  and  her  own 
guaranty   went  in    the    effort    to    subdue 

one  of  which  supported  Span-  tries,  and  that  these  obliga- 
ish  ascendancy,  and  the  other  tions  ran  to  a  state  church, 
of  which  was  revolutionary,  which  continued  to  be  a  state 
The  debts  created  by  the  ex-  church  after  the  colonies  had 
actions  of  Spain  and  of  the  achieved  their  independence, 
revolutionary  party  alike  As  to  the  Napoleonic  treaties 
were,  mainly  if  not  entirely,  cited  by  the  Spanish  Corn- 
obligations  due  to  the  people  missioners,  they  were  mere 
of  the  colonies  themselves,  matters  of  covenant  in  a 
As  to  the  continuance  of  pen-  special  case,  and  were  not, 
sions,  endowments,  etc.,  it  in  my  judgment,  the  result 
must  be  remembered  that  of  any  anterior  national  obli- 
these   were    Catholic    coun-  gation." 


SOME  CONSEQUENCES  OF  THE  TREATY   81 

a  colony  in  revolt  against  her  injustice  and 
bad  government.  The  lenders  knew  the 
facts  and  took  the  risk.  Two  years  after 
this  first  insurrection  was  temporarily  put 
down,  these  so-called  Cuban  debts  had 
amounted  to  over  $170,000,000.  They  were 
subsequently  consolidated  into  other  and 
later  issues;  but  whatever  change  of  form 
or  date  they  underwent,  they  continued  to 
represent  practically  just  three  things :  the 
effort  to  conquer  Santo  Domingo,  the  expe- 
dition to  Mexico,  and  the  efforts  to  subdue 
Cuba.  A  movement  to  refund  at  a  lower 
rate  of  interest  was  begun  in  1890,  and  for 
this  purpose  an  issue  of  $175,000,000  of 
Spanish  bonds  was  authorized,  to  be  paid 
out  of  the  revenues  of  Cuba,  but  with  the 
guaranty  of  the  Spanish  nation.  Before 
many  had  been  placed  the  insurrection  had 
again  broken  out.  Thenceforward  they 
were  used  not  to  refund  old  bonds,  but  to 
raise  money  for  the  prosecution  of  the  new 
war.  Before  its  close  this  indebtedness  had 
been  swollen  to  over  double  the  figure  named 
above,  and  a  part  of  the  money  must  have 
been  used  directly  in  the  war  against  the 
United  States. 

In  the  negotiations  Spain  took  high  moral 
ground  with  reference  to  these  debts.  She 
utterly  denied  any  right  to  inquire  how  the 


82  PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

proceeds  had  been  expended.  She  did  not 
insist  for  her  own  benefit  on  their  recogni- 
tion and  transfer  with  the  territory.  She 
was  concerned,  not  for  herself,  but  for  in- 
ternational morality  and  for  the  innocent 
holders.  Some,  no  doubt,  were  Spanish 
citizens,  but  many  others  were  French,  or 
Austrian,  or  of  other  foreign  nationalities. 
The  bonds  were  freely  dealt  in  on  the  Con- 
tinental bourses.  A  failure  to  provide  for 
them  would  be  a  public  scandal  throughout 
civilization;  it  would  cause  a  wide-spread 
and  profound  shock  to  the  sense  of  security 
in  national  obligations  the  world  over,  be- 
sides incalculable  injustice  and  individual 
distress. 

But  the  fact  was  that  these  were  the  bonds 
of  the  Spanish  nation,  issued  by  the  Span- 
ish nation  for  its  own  purposes,  guaranteed 
in  terms  "  by  the  faith  of  the  Spanish  na- 
tion," and  with  another  guaranty  pledging 
Spanish  sovereignty  and  control  over  certain 
colonial  revenues.  Spain  failed  to  maintain 
her  title  to  the  security  she  had  pledged,  but 
the  lenders  knew  the  instability  of  that  se- 
curity when  they  risked  their  money  on  it. 
All  the  later  lenders  and  many  of  the  early 
ones  knew,  also,  that  it  was  pledged  for 
money  to  continue  Spain's  efforts  to  subdue 
a  people  struggling  to  free  themselves  from 
Spanish  rule.      They  may  have   said  the 


SOME  CONSEQUENCES  OP  THE  TEEATY  83 

morality  or  justice  of  the  use  made  of  the 
money  was  no  concern  of  theirs.  They  may 
have  thought  the  security  doubtful,  and  still 
relied  on  the  broad  guaranty  of  the  Spanish 
nation.  At  any  rate,  caveat  emptor !  The 
one  thing  they  ought  not  to  have  relied 
upon  was  that  the  island  they  were  fur- 
nishing money  to  subdue,  if  it  gained  its 
freedom,  would  turn  around  and  insist  on 
reimbursing  them! 

The  Spanish  contention  that  it  was  in 
their  power,  as  absolute  sovereign  of  the 
struggling  island,  to  fasten  ineradicably  upon 
it,  for  their  own  hostile  purposes,  unlimited 
claims  to  its  future  revenues,  would  lead  to 
extraordinary  results.  Under  that  doctrine, 
any  hard- pushed  oppressor  would  have  a 
certain  means  of  subduing  the  most  righteous 
revolt  and  condemning  a  colony  to  perpetual 
subjugation.  He  would  only  have  to  load  it 
with  bonds,  issued  for  his  own  purposes,  be- 
yond any  possible  capacity  it  could  ever 
have  for  payment.  Under  that  load  it  could 
neither  sustain  itself  independently,  even  if 
successful  in  war,  nor  persuade  any  other 
Power  to  accept  responsibility  for  and  con- 
trol over  it.  It  would  be  rendered  impotent 
either  for  freedom  or  for  any  change  of 
sovereignty.  To  ask  the  Nation  sprung  from 
the  successful  revolt  of  the  thirteen  colonies 
to  acknowledge  and  act  on  an  immoral  doc- 


84  PROBLEMS   OF  EXPANSION 

trine  like  that,  was,  indeed,  ingenuous— or 
audacious.  The  American  Commissioners 
pronounced  it  alike  repugnant  to  common 
sense  and  menacing  to  liberty  and  civiliza- 
tion. The  Spanish  Commissioners  resented 
the  characterization,  but  it  is  believed  that 
the  considerate  judgment  of  the  world  will 
yet  approve  it.  International  practice  will 
certainly  hesitate  hereafter,  in  transfers  of 
sovereignty  over  territory  after  its  success- 
ful revolt,  at  any  recognition  of  loans  nego- 
tiated by  the  ceding  Power  in  its  unsuccessful 
effort  to  subdue  the  revolt— -no  matter  what 
pledges  it  had  assumed  to  give  about  the 
future  territorial  revenues.  Loans  for  the 
prosecution  of  unjust  wars  will  be  more 
sharply  scrutinized  in  the  money  markets  of 
the  world,  and  will  find  less  ready  takers, 
however  extravagant  the  rates.  It  may  even 
happen  that  oppressing  nations,  in  the  in- 
creasing difficulty  of  floating  such  loans, 
will  find  it  easier  to  relax  the  rigors  of  their 
rule  and  promote  the  orderly  development 
of  more  liberal  institutions  among  their 
subjects. 

Far  from  being  an  encouragement,  there- 
fore, to  repudiation,  the  American  rejection 
of  the  so-called  Cuban  debt  was  a  distinct 
contribution  to  international  morality,  and 
will  probably  furnish  an  important  addition 
to  International  Law. 


SOME  CONSEQUENCES  OF  THE  TREATY   85 

At  the  same  time  the  American  Commis-  Ready  to  Pay 
sioners  made  clear  in  another  case  their  sense  L^Jt't^pate 

T    ,       ,  .      Colonial 

of  the  duty  to  recognize  any  debt  legiti-  Debts, 
mately  attaching  to  ceded  territory.  There 
was  not  the  remotest  thought  of  buying  the 
Philippines,  when  a  money  payment  was 
proposed,  in  that  branch  of  the  negotiations. 
When  the  Spanish  fleet  was  sunk  and  the 
Spanish  army  captured  at  Manila,  Spanish 
control  over  the  Philippines  was  gone,  and  the 
Power  that  had  destroyed  it  was  compelled 
to  assume  its  responsibilities  to  the  civilized 
world  at  that  commercial  center  and  on  that 
oceanic  highway. ^  If  that  was  not  enough 
reason  for  the  retention  of  the  Philippines, 
then,  at  any  rate,  the  right  of  the  United 
States  to  them  as  indemnity  for  the  war 
could  not  be  contested  by  the  generation 
which  had  witnessed  the  exaction  of  Alsace 
and  Lorraine  plus  $1,000,000,000  indem- 
nity for  the  Franco-Prussian  War.  The 
war  with  Spain  had  already  cost  the  United 

1  It  might,  of  course,  have  that  would  have  been  to  say 
run  away  and  left  them  to  that  while  the  United  States 
disorder.  That  is  what  a  went  to  war  because  the  in- 
pirate  could  have  done,  and  justice  and  barbarity  of  Span- 
would  have  compelled  the  in-  ish  rule  in  the  West  Indies 
tervention  of  European  gov-  were  such  that  they  could  no 
ernments  for  the  protection  longer  be  tolerated,  it  was 
of  their  own  citizens.  Or  it  now  so  eager  to  quit  and  get 
might  have  restored  them  to  peace  that  it  was  willing  to 
Spain.  Besides  the  desertion  reestablish  that  same  rule  in 
of  natives  whose  aid  against  the  East  Indies  ! 
Manila  had  been  encouraged, 


86  PKOBLEMS   OF   EXPANSION 

States  far  above  $300,000,000.  When  trying 
to  buy  Cuba  from  Spain,  in  the  days  of  that 
island's  greatest  prosperity,  the  highest  val- 
uation the  United  States  was  ever  willing 
to  attach  to  it  was  $125,000,000.  As  an  ori- 
ginal proposition,  nobody  dreams  that  the 
American  people  would  have  consented  to 
buy  the  remote  Philippines  at  that  figure  or 
at  the  half  of  it.  Who  could  think  the  Gov- 
ernment exacting  if  it  accepted  them  in  lieu 
of  a  cash  indemnity  (which  Spain  was  wholly 
incapable  of  paying)  for  a  great  deal  more 
than  double  the  value  it  had  put  upon  Cuba, 
at  its  very  doors  ? 

It  was  certain,  then,  that  the  Philippines 
would  be  retained,  unless  the  President  and 
his  Commissioners  so  construed  their  duty 
to  protect  their  country's  interests  as  to 
throw  away,  in  advance  of  popular  instruc- 
tion, all  possible  chance  of  indemnity  for  the 
war.  But  there  was  an  issue  of  Spanish 
bonds,  called  a  Philippine  loan,  amounting 
to  forty  million  dollars  Mexican,  or  say  a 
little  less  than  twenty  millions  of  American 
money.  Warned  by  the  results  of  inquiry 
as  to  the  origin  of  the  Cuban  debt,  the 
American  Commissioners  avoided  undertak- 
ing to  assume  this  en  bloc.  But  in  their  first 
statement  of  the  claim  for  cession  of  sover- 
eignty in  the  Philippines,  while  intimating 
their  belief  in  their  absolute  right  to  enforce 


SOME  CONSEQUENCES  OF  THE  TREATY  87 

the  demand  on  the  single  ground  of  in- 
demnity, they  were  careful  to  say  that  they 
were  ready  to  stipulate  "  for  the  assumption 
of  any  existing  indebtedness  of  Spain  in- 
curred for  public  works  and  improvements 
of  a  pacific  character  in  the  Philippines." 
When  they  learned  that  this  entire  "  Philip- 
pine debt "  had  only  been  issued  in  1897,  that 
apparently  a  fourth  had  been  transferred  to 
Cuba  to  carry  on  the  war  against  the  Cuban 
insurgents,  and  finally  against  the  United 
States,  and  that  much  of  what  was  left  of 
the  remainder,  after  satisfying  the  demands 
of  officials  for  "  costs  of  negotiation,"  must 
have  gone  to  the  support  of  the  government 
while  engaged  in  prosecuting  the  war  against 
the  natives  in  Luzon,  the  American  Commis- 
sioners abandoned  the  idea  of  assuming  it. 
But  even  then  they  resolved,  in  the  final 
transfer,  to  fix  an  amgunt  at  least  equal  to 
the  face  value  of  that  debt,  which  could  be 
given  to  Spain.  She  could  use  it  to  pay 
the  Philippine  bonds  if  she  chose.  Nothing 
further  was  said  to  Spain  about  the  Philip- 
pine debt,  and  no  specific  reason  for  the  pay- 
ment was  given  in  the  ultimatum.  The 
Commissioners  merely  observed  that  they 
"  now  present  a  new  proposition,  embodying 
the  concessions  which,  for  the  sake  of  im- 
mediate peace,  their  Grovernment  is,  under 
the  circumstances,  willing  to  tender."    What 


88  PROBLEMS   OF   EXPANSION 

had  gone  before  showed  plainly  enough  the 
American  view  as  to  the  sanctity  of  public 
debt  legitimately  incurred  in  behalf  of  ceded 
territory,  and  explained  the  money  pay- 
ment in  the  case  of  the  Philippines,  as  well 
as  the  precise  amount  at  which  it  was  finally 
fixed. 

Privateeriof.  NEITHER  the  Peace  of  Paris  nor  the  con- 
flict which  it  closed  can  be  said  to  have 
quite  settled  the  status  of  private  war  at 
sea.  "Privateering  is  and  remains  abol- 
ished," not  in  International  Law,  but  merely 
between  the  Powers  that  signed  that  clause 
in  the  Declaration  of  Paris  in  1856.  But 
the  greatest  commercial  nation,  as  well  as 
the  most  powerful,  that  withheld  its  signa- 
ture was  the  United  States.  Obviously  its 
adhesion  to  the  principle  would  bring  more 
weight  to  the  general  acceptance  among 
civilized  nations,  which  is  the  essential  for 
admission  in  International  Law,  than  that  of 
all  the  other  dissenting  nations. 

Under  these  circumstances,  the  United 
States  took  the  occasion  of  an  outbreak  of 
war  between  itself  and  another  of  the  dis- 
senting nations  to  announce  that,  for  its 
part,  it  did  not  intend,  under  any  circum- 
stances, to  resort  to  privateering.  The 
other  gave  no  such  assurance,  and  was,  in 
fact,  expected  (in  accordance  with  frequent 


SOME  CONSEQUENCES  OF  THE  TKEATY   89 

semi-official  outgivings  from  Madrid)  to 
commission  privateers  at  an  early  day ;  but 
the  disasters  to  its  navy  and  the  collapse  of 
its  finances  left  it  without  a  safe  oppor- 
tunity. The  moral  effect  of  this  volunteer 
action  of  the  United  States,  with  no  offset 
of  any  active  dissent  by  its  opponent,  be- 
comes almost  equivalent  to  completing  that 
custom  and  assent  of  the  civilized  world 
which  create  International  Law.  Practically 
all  governments  may  henceforth  regard  pri- 
vateering as  under  international  ban,  and 
no  one  of  the  states  yet  refraining  from 
assent— Spain,  Mexico,  Venezuela,  or  China 
—is  likely  to  defy  the  ban.  The  announce- 
ment of  the  United  States  can  probably  be 
accepted  as  marking  the  end  of  private  war 
at  sea,  and  a  genuine  advance  in  the  world's 
civilization. 

The  refusal  of  the  United  States,  in  1856,  Exempt  all 
to  join  in  the  clause  of  the  Declaration  of  p^jL**^ 
Paris  abolishing  privateering  was  avowedly 
based  upon  the  ground  that  it  did  not  go  far 
enough.  The  American  claim  was  that  not 
only  private  seizure  of  enemy's  goods  at  sea 
should  be  prohibited,  but  that  all  private 
property  of  the  enemy  at  sea  should  be  en- 
titled to  the  same  protection  as  on  land— 
prizes  and  prize  courts  being  thus  almost 
abolished,  and  no  private  property  of  the 


90  PROBLEMS   OF  EXPANSION 

enemy  anywhere  being  liable  to  confiscation, 
unless  contraband  of  war.  It  was  frankly 
stated  at  the  time  that  without  this  addition 
the  abolition  of  privateering  was  not  in  the 
interest  of  Powers  like  the  United  States, 
with  a  small  navy,  but  a  large  and  active  mer- 
chant fleet.  This  peculiar  adaptability  of 
privateering  at  that  time  to  the  situation  of 
the  United  States  might  have  warranted 
the  suspicion  that  its  professions  of  a  desire 
to  make  the  Declaration  of  Paris  broader 
than  the  other  nations  wished  only  masked 
a  desire  to  have  things  remain  as  they  were. 
But  the  subsequent  action  of  its  Govern- 
ment in  time  of  profound  peace  compelled  a 
worthier  view  of  its  attitude.  A  treaty  with 
Italy,  negotiated  by  George  P.  Marsh,  and 
ratified  by  the  United  States  in  1871,  em- 
bodied the  very  extension  of  the  Declaration 
of  Paris  for  which  the  United  States  con- 
tended. This  treaty  provides  that  "  in  the 
event  of  a  war  between  them  (Italy  and  the 
United  States)  the  private  property  of  their 
respective  citizens  and  subjects,  with  the 
exception  of  contraband  of  war,  shall  be 
exempt  from  capture  or  seizure,  on  the  high 
seas  or  elsewhere,  by  the  armed  vessels  or 
by  the  military  forces  of  either  party."  Is 
it  too  much  to  hope  that  this  early  commit- 
tal of  the  United  States  with  Italy,  and  its 
subsequent  action  in  the  war  with  Spain, 


SOME  CONSEQUENCES  OF  THE  TKEATY   91 

may  at  last  bring  the  world  to  the  advanced 
ground  it  recommended  for  the  Declaration 
of  Paris,  and  throw  the  safeguards  of  civili- 
zation henceforth  around  all  private  property 
in  time  of  war,  whether  on  land  or  sea  ? 

Heee,  then,  are  three  great  principles,  im-  The  Monroe 
port  ant  to  the  advancement  of  civilization,  cJf^J"* 
which,  if  not  established  in  International  Law 
by  the  Peace  of  Paris  and  the  war  it  closed, 
have  at  least  been  so  powerfuly  reinforced 
that  no  nation  is  likely  hereafter  lightly  or 
safely  to  violate  them. 

But  it  has  often  been  asked,  and  some- 
times by  eminent  English  writers,  whether 
the  Americans  have  not,  at  the  same  time, 
fatally  unsettled  the  Monroe  Doctrine,  which 
never,  indeed,  had  the  sanction  of  Interna- 
tional Law,  but  to  which  they  were  known  to 
attach  the  greatest  importance.  A  large  and 
influential  body  of  American  opinion  at  first 
insisted  that  the  acquisition  of  the  West 
Indian,  Philippine,  and  Sandwich  Islands 
constituted  an  utter  abandonment  of  that 
Doctrine;  and  apparently  most  European 
publicists  have  accepted  this  view.  Only 
slight  inquiry  is  needed  to  show  that  the 
facts  give  it  little  support. 

The  Monroe  Doctrine  sprang  from  the 
union  of  certain  absolute  monarchs  (not 
claiming  to  rule  by  the  will  of  the  people. 


92  PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

but  by  "  divine  right ")  in  a  "  Holy  Alliance  " 
against  that  dangerous  spread  of  democratic 
ideas  which,  starting  in  the  revolt  of  the 
American  colonies,  had  kindled  the  French 
Revolution  and  more  or  less  unsettled  gov- 
ernment in  Europe.  It  was  believed  that 
these  monarchs  meant  not  only  to  repress 
republican  tendencies  in  Europe,  but  to  as- 
sist Spain  in  reducing  again  to  subjection 
American  republics  which  had  been  estab- 
lished in  former  Spanish  colonies,  and  had 
been  recognized  as  independent  by  the 
United  States.  Under  these  circumstances, 
James  Monroe,  then  President,  in  his  Annual 
Message  in  1823,  formally  announced  the 
famous  "  Doctrine  "  in  these  words : 

The  occasion  has  been  deemed  proper  for  as- 
serting as  a  principle  in  which  the  rights  and  in- 
terests of  the  United  States  are  involved,  that  the 
American  continents,  by  the  free  and  independent 
condition  which  they  have  assumed  and  main- 
tained, are  henceforth  not  to  be  considered  as 
subjects  for  future  colonization  by  any  European 
Powers.  .  .  .  Our  poUcy  in  regard  to  Europe  .  .  . 
is  not  to  interfere  in  the  internal  concerns  of  any 
of  its  Powers. 

That  is  the  whole  substance  of  it.  There 
was  no  pledge  of  abstention  throughout  the 
future  and  under  all  circumstances  from  the 
internal  concerns  of  European  Powers— only 


SOME  CONSEQUENCES  OF  THE  TEEATY   93 

a  statement  of  present  practice.  Far  less 
was  there  a  pledge,  as  seems  to  have  been 
widely  supposed,  that  if  the  Holy  Alliance 
would  only  refrain  from  aiding  Spain  to 
force  back  the  Mexican  and  South  American 
republics  into  Spanish  colonies,  the  United 
States  would  refrain  from  extending  its  in- 
stitutions or  its  control  over  any  region  in 
Asia  or  Africa  or  the  islands  of  the  sea. 
Less  yet  was  there  any  such  talk  as  has 
been  sometimes  quoted,  about  keeping  Eu- 
rope out  of  the  Western  hemisphere  and  our- 
selves staying  out  of  the  Eastern  hemisphere. 
What  Mr.  Monroe  really  said,  in  essence, 
was  this:  "The  late  Spanish  colonies  are 
now  American  republics,  which  we  have 
recognized.  They  shall  not  be  reduced  to 
colonies  again;  and  the  two  American  con- 
tinents have  thus  attained  such  an  indepen- 
dent condition  that  they  are  no  longer  fields 
for  European  colonization."  That  fact  re- 
mains. It  does  not  seem  probable  that 
anybody  will  try  or  wish  to  change  it. 
Furthermore,  the  United  States  has  not 
interfered  in  the  internal  concerns  of  any 
European  Powers.  But  it  is  under  no  direct 
pledge  for  the  future  to  that  effect;  and  as 
to  Asia,  Africa,  and  the  islands  of  the  sea,  it 
is  and  always  has  been  as  free  as  anybody 
else.  It  encouraged  and  protected  a  colony 
on  the  west  coast  of  Africa.    It  acquired  the 


04  PROBLEMS  OP  EXPANSION 

Aleutian  Islands,  largely  in  the  Asiatic  sys- 
tem. It  long  maintained  a  species  of  pro- 
tectorate over  the  Sandwich  Islands.  It 
acquired  an  interest  in  Samoa  and  joined 
there  in  a  protectorate.  It  has  now  taken 
the  Sandwich  Islands  and  the  Philippines. 
Meanwhile  the  Monroe  Doctrine  remains 
just  where  it  always  was.  Nothing  has 
been  done  in  contravention  of  it,  and  it 
stands  as  firmly  as  ever,  though  with  the 
tragic  end  of  the  Franco- Austrian  experiment 
in  Mexico,  and  now  with  the  final  disappear- 
ance from  the  Western  world  of  the  unfor- 
tunate Power  whose  colonial  experiences  led 
to  its  oiiginal  promulgation,  the  circum- 
stances have  so  changed  that  nobody  is  very 
likely  to  have  either  interest  or  wish  to  in- 
terfere with  it. 

Leaving  the  What  has  really  been  unsettled,  if  any- 
Continent,  thing,  by  the  Peace  of  Paris  and  the  pre- 
ceding war,  has  been  the  current  American 
idea  as  to  the  sphere  of  national  activities, 
and  the  power  under  the  Constitution  for 
their  extension.  It  is  perfectly  true  that  the 
people  did  not  wish  for  more  territory,  and 
never  dreamed  of  distant  colonies.  There 
had  always  been  a  party  that  first  opposed 
and  then  belittled  the  acquisition  of  Alaska. 
There  was  no  considerable  popular  sup- 
port since  the  Civil  War  for  filibustering 


SOME  CONSEQUENCES  OF  THE  TREATY  95 

expeditions  of  the  old  sort  against  Cuba. 
There  was  genuine  reluctance  to  take  the 
steps  which  recent  circumstances  and  the 
national  committals  for  half  a  century  made 
almost  unavoidable  in  the  Sandwich  Islands. 
Now  suddenly  the  United  States  found  itself 
in  possession  of  Cuba,  Porto  Eico,  Guam, 
and  the  Philippines.  The  first  impression 
was  one  of  great  popular  perplexity.  What 
was  to  be  done  with  them?  Must  they  be 
developed  through  the  territorial  stage  into 
independent  States  in  the  Union  I  or,  if  not, 
how  govern  or  get  rid  of  them !  What  place 
was  there  in  the  American  system  for  terri- 
tories that  were  never  to  be  States,  for  col- 
onies, or  for  the  rule  of  distant  subject  races  ? 

Up  to  this  time,  from  the  outbreak  of  the 
war,  the  Administration  had  found  the 
American  people  united  in  its  support  as 
they  had  hardly  been  united  for  a  century. 
The  South  vied  with  the  North,  the  West 
forgot  the  growing  jealousy  of  the  East,  the 
poor  the  new  antagonism  to  the  rich,  and 
the  wildest  cow-boys  from  Arizona  and  New 
Mexico  marched  fraternally  beside  scions  of 
the  oldest  and  richest  families  from  New 
York,  under  the  orders  of  a  great  Secession- 
ist cavalry  general. 

But  now  two  parties  presently  arose.  One 
held  that  there  was  no  creditable  escape  from 
the  consequences  of  the  war ;  that  the  Gov- 


96  PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

ernment,  having  broken  down  the  existing 
authority  in  the  capital  of  the  Philippines, 
and  practically  throughout  the  archipelago, 
could  neither  set  up  that  authority  again  nor 
shirk  the  duty  of  replacing  it;  that  it  was 
as  easy  and  as  constitutional  to  apply  some 
modification  of  the  existing  territorial  system 
to  the  Philippines  as  it  had  been  to  Alaska 
and  the  Aleutians ;  and  that,  while  the  task 
was  no  doubt  disagreeable,  difficult,  and 
dangerous,  it  could  not  be  avoided  with 
honor,  and  would  ultimately  be  attended 
with  great  profit.  On  the  other  hand,  some 
prominent  members  of  the  Administration 
party  led  off  in  protests  against  the  retention 
of  the  Philippines  on  constitutional,  human- 
itarian, and  economic  grounds,  pronouncing 
it  a  policy  absolutely  antagonistic  to  the 
principles  of  the  Republic  and  the  precursor 
of  its  downfall.  In  proportion  as  the  Ad- 
ministration itself  inclined  to  the  former 
view,  the  opposition  leaders  fell  away  from 
the  support  they  had  given  during  the  war, 
and  began  to  align  themselves  with  those 
members  of  the  Administration  party  who 
had  opposed  the  ratification  of  the  treaty. 
They  were  reinforced  by  a  considerable  body 
of  educated  and  conservative  public  opinion, 
chiefly  at  the  East,  and  by  a  number  of 
trades-union  and  labor  leaders,  who  had  been 
brought  to  believe  that  the  new  policy  meant 


SOME  CONSEQUENCES  OF  THE  TREATY   97 

cheap  labor  and  cheap  manufactures  in 
competition  with  their  own,  together  with 
a  large  standing  army,  to  which  they  have 
manifested  great  repugnance  ever  since  the 
Chicago  riots. 

In   the   universal   ferment  of  opinion  and  Anti-Admin- 
discussion  that   ensued,  the   opponents  of  v/ew  oHhe 
what  is  assumed  to  be  the  Administration  Constitution. 
policy  on  the  new  possessions  have  seemed 
to  rely  chiefly  on  two  provisions  in  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States  and  a  phrase 
in  the  Declaration  of  Independence.    The 
constitutional  provisions  are : 

The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  levy  and  col- 
lect taxes  .  .  .  and  provide  for  the  common  de- 
fense and  general  welfare  of  the  United  States  5 
hut  all  duties,  imposts,  and  excises  shall  he  uniform 
throughout  the  United  States.— Art.  I,  Sec.  8. 

All  persons  born  or  naturalized  in  the  United 
States  and  subject  to  the  jurisdiction  thereof  are 
citizens  of  the  United  States  and  of  the  State 
wherein  they  reside.— Art.  XIV,  Sec.  1. 

To  serve  the  purpose  for  which  these 
clauses  of  the  Constitution  are  invoked,  it  is 
necessary  to  hold  that  any  territory  to  which 
the  United  States  has  a  title  is  an  integral 
part  of  the  United  States;  and  perhaps  the 
greatest  name  in  the  history  of  American 
constitutional   interpretation,    that   of  Mr. 


98  PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

Chief  Justice  Marshall  of  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  United  States,  is  cited  in  favor  of  that 
contention.  K  accepted,  it  follows  that  when 
the  treaty  ceding  Spanish  sovereignty  in  the 
Philippines  was  ratified,  that  archipelago 
became  an  integral  part  of  the  United 
States.  Then,  under  the  first  clause  above 
cited,  the  Dingley  tariff  must  be  immediately 
extended  over  the  Philippines  (as  well  as 
Porto  Rico,  the  Sandwich  Islands,  and 
Gruam)  precisely  as  over  New  York;  and, 
under  the  second  clause,  every  native  of  the 
Philippines  and  the  other  new  possessions 
is  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  with  all  the 
rights  and  privileges  thereby  accruing.  The 
first  result  would  be  the  disorganization  of 
the  present  American  revenue  system  by 
the  free  admission  into  all  American  ports  of 
sugar  and  other  tropical  products  from  the 
greatest  sources  of  supply,  and  the  conse- 
quent loss  of  nearly  sixty  millions  of  annual 
revenue.  Another  would  be  the  destruction 
of  the  existing  cane-  and  beet-sugar  indus- 
tries in  the  United  States.  Another,  appre- 
hended by  the  laboring  classes,  who  are 
already  suspicious  from  their  experience 
with  the  Chinese,  would  be  an  enormous  in- 
flux, either  of  cheap  labor  or  of  its  products, 
to  beat  down  their  wages. 

Next,  it  is  argued,  there  is  no  place  in  the 
theory  or  practice  of  the  American  Govern- 


SOME  CONSEQUENCES  OF  THE  TBEATY   99 

ment  for  territories  except  for  development 
into  Statehood;  and,  consequently,  the  re- 
quired population  being  already  present, 
new  States  must  be  created  out  of  Luzon, 
Mindanao,  the  Yisayas,  Porto  Eico,  and  the 
Sandwich  Islands.  The  right  to  hold  them 
permanently  in  the  territorial  form,  or  even 
under  a  protectorate,  is  indignantly  denied 
as  conflicting  with  Mr.  Jeff erson^s  phrase  in 
the  Declaration  of  Independence,  to  the 
effect  that  governments  derive  their  just 
powers  from  the  consent  of  the  governed. 
Some  great  names  can  certainly  be  mar- 
shaled in  support  of  such  views— Chancellor 
Kent,  Mr.  John  C.  Calhoun,  Mr.  Chief  Jus- 
tice Taney,  and  others.  Denial  of  this  duty 
to  admit  the  new  possessions  as  States  is 
denounced  as  a  violation  by  the  Republic 
of  the  very  law  of  its  being,  and  its  trans- 
formation into  an  empire;  as  a  revival  of 
slavery  in  another  form,  both  because  of 
government  without  representation,  and  be- 
cause of  the  belief  that  no  tropical  colony  can 
be  successful  without  contract  labor;  as  a 
consequent  and  inevitable  degradation  of 
American  character;  as  a  defiance  of  the 
warnings  in  Washington's  Farewell  Address 
against  foreign  entanglements ;  as  a  repudi- 
ation of  the  congressional  declaration  at  the 
outbreak  of  the  war,  that  it  was  not  waged 
for  territorial  aggrandizement;  and  finally 


100       PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

as  placing  Aguinaldo  in  the  position  of 
fighting  for  freedom,  independence,  and  the 
principles  of  the  fathers  of  the  Republic, 
while  the  Republic  itself  is  in  the  position 
of  fighting  to  control  and  govern  him  and 
his  people  in  spite  of  their  will. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  supporters  of  the 
treaty  and  of  the  policy  of  the  Administra- 
tion, so  far  as  it  has  been  disclosed,  begin 
their  argument  with  another  provision  of  the 
Constitution,  the  second  part  of  Section  3  in 
Article  IV: 

The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  dispose  of 
and  make  all  needful  rules  and  regulations  re- 
specting the  territory  or  other  property  belonging 
to  the  United  States. 


They  claim  that,  under  this.  Congress  has 
absolute  power  to  do  what  it  will  with  the 
Philippines,  as  with  any  other  territory  or 
other  property  which  the  United  States  may 
acquire.  It  is  admitted  that  Congress  is,  of 
course,  under  an  implied  obligation  to  exer- 
cise this  power  in  the  general  spirit  of  the 
Constitution  which  creates  it,  and  of  the 
Government  of  which  it  is  a  part.  But  it  is 
denied  that  Congress  is  under  any  obligation 
to  confer  a  republican  form  of  government 
upon  a  territory  whose  inhabitants  are  unfit 
for  it,  or  to  adopt  any  form  of  government 


SOME  CONSEQUENCES  OF  THE  TKEATY  101 

devised  with  reference  to  preparing  it  for 
ultimate  admission  to  the  Union  as  a  State. 
It  is  further  denied  that  Congress  is  under 
any  obligation,  arising  either  from  the  Con- 
stitution itself  or  from  the  precedents  of  the 
Nation's  action  under  it,  to  ask  the  consent 
of  the  inhabitants  in  acquired  territory  to 
the  form  of  government  which  may  be  given 
them.  And  still  further,  it  is  not  only  denied 
that  Congress  is  under  .any  obligations  to 
prepare  these  territories  for  Statehood  or 
admit  them  to  it,  but  it  is  pointed  out  that, 
at  least  as  to  the  Philippines,  that  body  is 
prevented  from  doing  so  by  the  very  terms, 
of  the  preamble  to  the  Constitution  itself— 
concluding  with  the  words,  "  do  ordain  and 
establish  this  Constitution  for  the  United 
States  of  America. ^^  There  is  no  place  here 
for  States  of  Asia. 

In    dealing    with    the    arguments    against  Replies  to 
retention  of  the  Philippines,  based  on  the  {J2'*"' 
sections  previously  quoted  from  Articles  I  Objections. 
and  XIV  of  the  Constitution,  the  friends  of 
the  policy  say  that  the  apparent  conflict  in 
these  articles  with  the  wide  grant  of  powers 
over  territory  to  Congress  which  they  find 
in  Article  IV  arises  wholly  from  a  failure  to 
recognize  the  different  senses  in  which  the 
term  "the  United  States"  is  used.    As  the 
name  of  the  Nation  it  is  often  employed  to 


102       PROBLEMS  OP  EXPANSION 

include  all  territory  over  which  United  States 
sovereignty  extends,  whether  originally  the 
property  of  the  individual  States  and  ceded 
to  the  United  States,  or  whether  acquired 
in  treaties  by  the  Nation  itself.  But  such  a 
meaning  is  clearly  inconsistent  with  its  use 
in  certain  clauses  of  the  Constitution  in  ques- 
tion. Thus  Article  XIII  says:  "Neither 
slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude  .  .  .  shall 
exist  within  the  United  States  or  any  place 
subject  to  their  jurisdiction,''^ 

The  latter  clause  was  obviously  the  con- 
stitutional way  of  conveying  the  idea  about 
the  Territories  which  the  opponents  of  the 
Philippine  policy  are  now  trying  to  read  into 
the  name  "United  States."  The  constitu- 
tional provision  previously  cited  about  citi- 
zenship illustrates  the  same  point.  It  says 
"  all  persons  born,"  etc.,  "  are  citizens  of  the 
United  States  and  of  the  State  wherein  they 
reside,''^  There  is  no  possibility  left  here 
that  Territories  are  to  be  held  as  an  integral 
part  of  the  United  States,  in  the  sense  in 
which  the  Constitution,  in  this  clause,  uses 
the  name.  If  they  had  been,  the  clause 
would  have  read,  "  and  of  the  State  or  Ter- 
ritory in  which  they  reside."  For  these 
opinions  high  authorities  are  also  cited, 
including  debates  in  the  Senate,  acts  of 
Congress,  the  constant  practice  of  the 
Executive,  and  most  of  th^  judicial  rulings 


SOME  CONSEQUENCES  OF  THE  TREATY  103 

of  the  last  half -century  that  seem  to  bear 
upon  the  present  situation. 

It  has  been  thought  best,  in  an  explanation  The  Outcome 
to  readers  in  another  country  of  the  perplex-  "o**^®"^*^"'- 
ity  arising  in  the  American  mind,  in  a  sud- 
den emergency,  from  these  disputed  points 
in  constitutional  powers,  to  set  forth  with 
impartial  fairness  and  some  precision  the 
views  on  either  side.  It  is  essential  to  a  fair 
judgment  as  to  the  apparent  hesitation  since 
this  problem  began  to  develop,  that  the  real 
basis  for  the  conflicting  opinions  should  be 
understood,  and  that  full  justice  should  be 
done  to  the  earnest  repugnance  with  which 
many  conscientious  citizens  draw  back  from 
sending  American  youth  to  distant  tropical 
regions  to  enforce  with  an  armed  hand  the 
submission  of  an  unwilling  people  to  the 
absolute  rule  of  the  Eepublic.  It  should  be 
realized,  too,  how  far  the  new  departure  does 
unsettle  the  practice  and  policy  of  a  century. 
The  old  view  that  each  new  Territory  is 
merely  another  outlet  for  surplus  popula- 
tion, soon  to  be  taken  in  as  another  State  in 
the  Union,  must  be  abandoned.  The  old 
assumption  that  all  inhabitants  of  territory 
belonging  to  the  United  States  are  to  be 
regarded  as  citizens  is  gone.  The  idea  that 
government  anywhere  must  derive  its  just 
powers  only  from  the  consent  of  the  gov- 


104       PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

erned  is  unsettled,  and  thus,  to  some,  the 
very  foundations  of  the  Republic  seem  to 
be  shaken.  Three  generations,  trained  in 
Washington's  warnings  against  foreign  en- 
tanglements, find  it  difficult  all  at  once  to 
realize  that  advice  adapted  to  a  people  of 
three  millions,  scattered  along  the  border  of 
a  continent,  may  need  some  modifications 
when  applied  to  a  people  of  seventy-five 
millions,  occupying  the  continent,  and 
reaching  out  for  the  commerce  of  both  the 
oceans  that  wash  its  shores. 

But  whatever  may  be  thought  of  the 
weight  of  the  argument,  either  as  to  con- 
stitutional power  or  as  to  policy,  there  is 
little  doubt  as  to  the  result.  The  people 
who  found  authority  in  their  fundamental 
law  for  treating  paper  currency  as  a  legal 
tender  in  time  of  war,  in  spite  of  the  con- 
stitutional requirement  that  no  State  should 
"  make  anything  but  gold  and  silver  coin  a 
tender  in  payment  of  debts,"  will  find  there 
also  all  the  power  they  need  for  dealing 
with  the  difficult  problem  that  now  con- 
fronts them.  And  when  the  constitutional 
objections  are  surmounted,  those  as  to  policy 
are  not  likely  to  lead  the  American  people  to 
recall  their  soldiers  from  the  fields  on  which 
the  Filipinos  attacked  them,  or  abandon  the 
sovereignty  which  Spain  ceded.    The  Ameri- 


SOME  CONSEQUENCES  OF  THE  TKEATY  105 

can  Grovernment  has  the  new  territories,  and 
will  hold  and  govern  them. 

A  republic  like  the  United  States  has 
not  been  well  adapted  hitherto  to  that  sort 
of  work.  Congress  is  apt  to  be  slow,  if  not 
also  changeable,  and  under  the  Constitution 
the  method  of  government  for  territories 
must  be  prescribed  by  Congress.  It  has  not 
yet  found  time  to  deal  with  the  Sandwich 
Islands.  Its  harsher  critics  declare  it  has 
never  yet  found  time  to  deal  fairly  with 
Alaska.  No  doubt.  Executive  action  in 
advance  of  Congress  might  be  satisfactory ; 
but  a  President  is  apt  to  wait  for  Congress 
unless  driven  by  irresistible  necessities.  He 
can  only  take  the  initiative  through  some 
form  of  military  government.  For  this  the 
War  Department  is  not  yet  well  organized. 
Possibly  the  easiest  solution  for  the  moment 
would  be  in  the  organization  of  another  de- 
partment for  war  and  government  beyond 
the  seas,  or  the  development  of  a  measurably 
independent  bureau  for  such  work  in  the 
present  department.  Whatever  is  done,  it 
would  be  unreasonable  to  expect  unbroken 
success  or  exemption  from  a  learner's  mis- 
takes and  discouragements.  But  whoever 
supposes  that  these  will  result  either  in  the 
abandonment  of  the  task  or  in  a  final  failure 
with  it  does  not  know  the  American  people. 


VII 
CUE  NEW  DUTIES 


This  commencement  address  was  delivered  on  the  cam- 
pus at  Miami  University,  Oxford,  Ohio,  at  the  celebration 
of  its  seventy-fifth  anniversary,  June  15,  1899. 


OUR  NEW  DUTIES 


SONS  AND  Fkiends  of  Miami  :  I  join  you 
in  saluting  this  venerable  mother  at  a 
notable  waymark  in  her  great  life.  One 
hundred  and  seven  years  ago  the  Congress 
voted,  and  G-eorge  Washington  approved,  a 
foundation  for  this  University.  Seventy- 
five  years  ago  it  opened  its  doors.  Now,  si 
monumentum  quseris,  circumspice.  There 
is  the  catalogue.  There  are  the  long  lists 
of  men  who  so  served  the  State  or  the 
Church  that  their  lives  are  your  glory,  their 
names    your   inspiration.^     There    are    the 

1  Much  attention  had  been  1835,  Governor  of  Ohio,  1859- 
attracted,  as  the  date  for  this  63,  and  Postmaster-General 
celebration  approached,  to  under  Abraham  Lincoln ;  Ca- 
the  numerous  sons  of  this  leb  B.  Smith,  1826,  Secretary 
small  college  who  had  in  of  the  Interior  in  the  same 
one  way  or  another  become  Administration ;  General 
prominent;  and  the  news-  Robert  C.  Schenck,  1827, 
papers  printed  long  lists  of  Chairman  Ways  and  Means 
them.  Among  the  names  thus  Committee  in  House  of  Rep- 
singled  out  in  the  press  were  resentatives,  Major-General 
Benjamin  Harrison,  of  the  in  the  Civil  War,  and  United 
class  of  1852,  President  of  States  Minister  to  Brazil  and 
the  United  States,  1889-93 ;  to  Great  Britain ;  William  S. 
William  Dennison,   class "  of  Groesbeck,    1834,    Congress- 

109 


110       PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

longer  lists  of  others  to  whom  kinder  for- 
tune did  not  set  duties  in  the  eye  of  the 
world;  but  Miami  made  of  them  citizens 
who  leavened  the  lump  of  that  growing 
West  which  was  then  a  sprawling,  irregular 
line  of  pioneer  settlements,  and  is  now  an 
empire.  Search  through  it,  above  and  below 
the  Ohio,  and  beyond  the  Mississippi.  So 
often,  where  there  are  centers  of  good 
work  or  right  thinking  and  right  living— 
so  often  and  so  widely  spread  will  you  find 
traces  of  Miami,  left  by  her  own  sons  or 
coming  from  those  secondary  sources  which 
sprang  from  her  example  and  influence,  that 


man,  counsel  for  Andrew  ator  from  Kentucky ;  George 
Johnson  in  the  impeachment  E.  Pugh,  1840,  United  States 
proceedings,  and  United  Senator  from  Ohio ;  James  W. 
States  delegate  to  the  Inter-  McDill,  1853,  United  States 
national  Monetary  Congress,  Senator  from  Iowa ;  General 
1878 ;  Samuel  Shellabarger,  Samuel  F.  Carey,  1835,  Con- 
184],  Congressman,  member  gressman  from  Ohio,  and  tem- 
of  the  Credit  Mobilier  Inves-  perance  orator ;  Albert  S. 
ligation,  and  of  the  United  Berry,  1856,  Congressman 
States  Civil  Service  Commis-  from  Kentucky ;  Dr.  John  S. 
sion ;  Oliver  P.  Morton,  1845,  Billings,  U.  S.  A.,  1857,  head 
War  Governor  of  Indiana,  of  New  York  Library ;  David 
and  United  States  Senator;  Swing,  1852,  the  Chicago 
Charles  Anderson,  1833,  Gov-  clergyman ;  General  A.  C. 
ernor  of  Ohio ;  James  Birney,  McClurg,  1853,  the  Chicago 
1836,  Governor  of  Michigan  ;  publisher ;  Henry  M.  Mae- 
Richard  Yates,  1830,  War  Gov-  Cracken,  1857,  Chancellor  of 
ernor  of  Illinois,  and  United  New  York  University ;  Wil- 
States  Senator;  Milton  Say-  liam  M.  Thomson,  1828,  au- 
ler,  1852,  Speaker  House  of  thor  of  "The  Land  and  the 
Representatives;  John  S.  Book";  Calvin S.  Brice,  1863, 
Williams,  1838,  the  "Cerro  railway-builder,  and  United 
Gordo  Williams  "  of  the  Mex-  States  Senator ;  etc. 
ican  War,  United  States  Sen- 


OUR  NEW  DUTIES  111 

you  are  led  in  grateful  surprise  to  exclaim : 
"  If  this  be  the  work  of  a  little  college,  God 
bless  and  prolong  the  little  college !  If, 
half  starved  and  generally  neglected,  she  has 
thus  nourished  good  learning  and  its  proper 
result  in  good  lives  through  the  three 
quarters  of  a  century  ended  to-day,  may  the 
days  of  her  years  be  as  the  sands  of  the  sea ; 
may  the  Twentieth  Century  only  introduce 
the  glorious  prime  of  a  career  of  which  the 
Nineteenth  saw  but  modest  beginnings,  and 
may  good  old  Miami  still  flourish  in  ssecula 
SBBCulorum !  " 

But  the  celebration  of  her  past  and  the 
aspirations  for  her  future  belong  to  worthier 
sons— here  among  these  gentlemen  of  the 
Board  who  have  cared  for  her  in  her  need. 
I  make  them  my  profound  acknowledgments 
for  the  honor  they  have  done  me  in  assign- 
ing me  a  share  in  the  work  of  this  day  of 
days,  and  shall  best  deserve  their  trust  by 
going  with  absolute  candor  straight  to  my 
theme. 

I  SHALL  speak  of  the  new  duties  that  are  New  Duties; 
upon  us  and  the  new  world  that  is  opening  ^^^ 
to  us  with  the  new  century— of  the  spirit  in 
which  we  should  advance  and  the  results  we 
have  the  right  to  ask.  I  shall  speak  of 
public  matters  which  it  is  the  duty  of 
educated  men  to  consider;  and  of  matters 


112       PKOBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

which  may  hereafter  divide  parties,  but  on 
which  we  must  refuse  now  to  recognize 
party  distinctions.  Partizanship  stops  at 
the  guard-line.  "  In  the  face  of  an  enemy 
we  are  all  Frenchmen,"  said  an  eloquent 
Imperialist  once  in  my  hearing,  in  rallying 
his  followers  to  support  a  foreign  measure 
of  the  French  Eepublic.  At  this  moment 
our  soldiers  are  facing  a  barbarous  or 
semi-civilized  foe,  who  treacherously  at- 
tacked them  in  a  distant  land,  where  our 
flag  had  been  sent,  in  friendship  with  them, 
for  the  defense  of  our  own  shores.  Was  it 
creditable  or  seemly  that  it  was  lately  left 
to  a  Bonaparte  on  our  own  soil  to  teach 
some  American  leaders  that,  at  such  a  time, 
patriotic  men  at  home  do  not  discourage 
those  soldiers  or  weaken  the  Government 
that  directs  them  f  ^ 

Neither  shall  I  discuss,  here  and  now,  the 
wisdom  of  all  the  steps  that  have  led  to  the 
present  situation.    For  good  or  ill,  the  war 

1  "My  dear  Sir  :  I  have  re-  tently  accept  the  position,  es- 

ceived  your  letter  of  the  23d  pecially  since  I  learn  through 

inst.,  notifying  me  of  my  elec-  the    press    that    the   league 

tion  as   a   vice-president   of  adopted  at  its  recent  meeting 

the  Anti-Imperialist  League,  certain  resolutions  to  which 

I  recognize  the  compliment  I  cannot  assent.  ...  I  may 

implied  in  this  election,  and  add  that,  while  I  fully  recog- 

appreeiate   it   the    more   by  nize  the  injustice  and  even 

reason  of  my  respect  for  the  absurdity  of  those    charges 

gentlemen  identified  with  the  of    *  disloyalty '  which   have 

league,  but  I  do  not  think  I  been    of    late    freely    made 

can  appropriately  or  consis-  against  some  members  of  the 


OUB  NEW  DUTIES  113 

was  fought.  Its  results  are  upon  us.  With 
the  ratification  of  the  Peace  of  Paris,  our 
Continental  Eepublic  has  stretched  its  wings 
over  the  West  Indies  and  the  East.  It  is  a 
fact  and  not  a  theory  that  confronts  us. 
We  are  actually  and  now  responsible,  not 
merely  to  the  inhabitants  and  to  our  own 
people,  but,  in  International  Law,  to  the  com- 
merce, the  travel,  the  civilization  of  the 
world,  for  the  preservation  of  order  and  the 
protection  of  life  and  property  in  Cuba,  in 
Porto  Eico,  in  Guam,  and  in  the  Philippine 
Archipelago,  including  that  recent  haunt  of 
piracy,  the  Sulus.  Shall  we  quit  ourselves 
like  men  in  the  discharge  of  this  immediate 
duty;  or  shall  we  fall  to  quarreling  with 
each  other  like  boys  as  to  whether  such  a 
duty  is  a  good  or  a  bad  thing  for  the  coun- 
try, and  as  to  who  got  it  fastened  upon  us? 
There  may  have  been  a  time  for  disputes 
about  the  wisdom  of  resisting  the  stamp 

league,  and  also  that  many  ing    this    tendency.      There 

honorable  and  patriotic  men  can  be  no  doubt  that,  as  a 

do  not  feel  as  I  do  on  this  matter  of  fact,  the  country  is 

subject,  I  am  personally  un-  at  war  with  Aguinaldo  and 

willing  to  take  part  in  an  agi-  his  followers.     I  profoundly 

tation  which  may  have  some  regret  this  fact ;  .  .  .  but  it 

tendency  to  cause  a  public  is  a  fact,  nevertheless,  and, 

enemy  to  persist  in  armed  re-  as  such,  must  weigh  in  deter- 

sistance,  or  may  be,  at  least,  mining  my  conduct  as  a  citi- 

plausibly  represented  as  hav-  zen.  .  .  . 

"  Charles  Jerome  Bonaparte. 
"  Baltimore, 
"May  25,  1899." 


114  PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

tax,  but  it  was  not  just  after  Bunker  Hill. 
There  may  have  been  a  time  for  hot  debate 
about  some  mistakes  in  the  antislavery 
agitation,  but  not  just  after  Sumter  and 
Bull  Run.  Furthermore,  it  is  as  well  to  re- 
member that  you  can  never  grind  with  the 
water  that  has  passed  the  mill.  Nothing  in 
human  power  can  ever  restore  the  United 
States  to  the  position  it  occupied  the  day 
before  Congress  plunged  us  into  the  war 
with  Spain,  or  enable  us  to  escape  what 
that  war  entailed.  No  matter  what  we 
wish,  the  old  continental  isolation  is  gone 
forever.  Whithersoever  we  turn  now,  we 
must  do  it  with  the  burden  of  our  late  acts 
to  carry,  the  responsibility  of  our  new  posi- 
tion to  assume. 

When  the  sovereignty  which  Spain  had 
exercised  with  the  assent  of  all  nations  over 
vast  and  distant  regions  for  three  hundred 
years  was  solemnly  transferred  under  the 
eye  of  the  civilized  world  to  the  United 
States,  our  first  responsibility  became  the 
restoration  of  order.  Till  that  is  secured, 
any  hindrance  to  the  effort  is  bad  citizen- 
ship—as bad  as  resistance  to  the  police ;  as 
much  worse,  in  fact,  as  its  consequences 
may  be  more  bloody  and  disastrous.  "  You 
have  a  wolf  by  the  ears,"  said  an  accom- 
plished ex-Minister  of  the  United  States  to 
a  departing  Peace  Commissioner  last  au- 


OUR  NEW  DUTIES  115 

tumn.  '^You  cannot  let  go  of  Mm  with 
either  dignity  or  safety,  and  he  will  not  be 
easy  to  tame." 

But  when  the  task  is  accomplished,—  Policy  for 
when  the  Stars  and  Stripes  at  last  bring  jJlfs^eg^ions. 
the  order  and  peaceful  security  they  typify, 
instead  of  wanton  disorder,  with  all  the 
concomitants  of  savage  warfare  over  which 
they  now  wave,— we  shall  then  be  confronted 
with  the  necessity  of  a  policy  for  the  future 
of  these  distant  regions.  It  is  a  problem 
that  calls  for  our  soberest, '  most  dispas- 
sionate, and  most  patriotic  thought.  The 
colleges,  and  the  educated  classes  generally, 
should  make  it  a  matter  of  conscience— 
painstakingly  considered  on  all  its  sides, 
with  reference  to  International  Law,  the 
burdens  of  sovereignty,  the  rights  and  the 
interests  of  native  tribes,  and  the  legitimate 
demands  of  civilization— to  find  first  our 
national  duty  and  then  our  national  in- 
terest, which  it  is  also  a  duty  for  our  states- 
men to  protect.  On  such  a  subject  we  have 
a  right  to  look  to  our  colleges  for  the  help 
they  should  be  so  well  equipped  to  give. 
From  these  still  regions  of  cloistered  thought 
may  well  come  the  white  light  of  pure 
reason,  not  the  wild,  whirling  words  of  the  , 
special  pleader  or  of  the  partizan,  giving 
loose  rein  to  his  hasty  first  impressions.     It 


116       PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

would  be  an  ill  day  for  some  colleges  if 
crude  and  hot-tempered  incursions  into 
current  public  affairs,  like  a  few  unhappily 
witnessed  of  late,  should  lead  even  their 
friends  to  fear  lest  they  have  been  so  long 
accustomed  to  dogmatize  to  boys  that  they 
have  lost  the  faculty  of  reasoning  with  men. 

When  the  first  duty  is  done,  when  order 
is  restored  in  those  commercial  centers  and 
on  that  commercial  highway,  somebody 
must  then  be  responsible  for  maintaining  it 
—either  ourselves  or  some  Power  whom  we 
persuade  to  take  them  off  our  hands.  Does 
anybody  doubt  what  the  American  people 
in  their  present  temper  would  say  to  the 
latter  alternative !— the  same  people  who,  a 
fortnight  ago,  were  ready  to  break  off  their 
Joint  Commission  with  Great  Britain  and 
take  the  chances,  rather  than  give  up  a  few 
square  miles  of  worthless  land  and  a  harbor 
of  which  a  year  ago  they  scarcely  knew  the 
name,  on  the  remote  coast  of  Alaska. 
Plainly  it  is  idle  now,  in  a  government  so 
purely  dependent  on  the  popular  will,  to 
scheme  or  hope  for  giving  the  Philippine 
task  over  to  other  hands  as  soon  as  order  is 
restored.  We  must,  then,  be  prepared  with 
a  policy  for  maintaining  it  ourselves. 

Of  late  years  men  have  unthinkingly 
assumed  that  new  territory  is,  in  the  very 
nature    of    our    Government,   merely    and 


OUB  NEW  DUTIES  117 

necessarily  the  raw  material  for  future 
States  in  the  Union.  Colonies  and  depen- 
dencies, it  is  now  said,  are  essentially  in- 
consistent with  our  system.  But  if  any  ever 
entertained  the  wild  dream  that  the  in- 
strument whose  preamble  says  it  is  ordained 
for  the  United  States  of  America  could  be 
stretched  to  the  China  Sea,  the  first  Tagal 
guns  fired  at  friendly  soldiers  of  the  Union, 
and  the  first  mutilation  of  American  dead 
that  ensued,  ended  the  nightmare  of  States 
from  Asia  admitted  to  the  American  Union. 
For  that  relief,  at  least,  we  must  thank  the 
uprising  of  the  Tagals.  It  was  a  Con- 
tinental Union  of  independent  sovereign 
States  our  fathers  planned.  Whoever  pro- 
poses to  debase  it  with  admixtures  of  States 
made  up  from  the  islands  of  the  sea,  in  any 
archipelago.  East  or  West,  is  a  bad  friend  to 
the  Eepublic.  We  may  guide,  protect, 
elevate  them,  and  even  teach  them  some 
day  to  stand  alone;  but  if  we  ever  invite 
them  into  our  Senate  and  House,  to  help  to 
rule  us,  we  are  the  most  imbecile  of  all  the 
offspring  of  time. 

Yet  we  must  face  the  fact  that  able  and  The 
conscientious  men  believe  the  United  States  {jJJaf*"' 
has  no  constitutional  power  to  hold  territory  Objection. 
that  is  not  to  be  erected  into  States  in  the 
Union,  or  to  govern  people  that  are  not  to 


118       PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

be  made  citizens.  They  are  able  to  cite 
great  names  in  support  of  their  contention ; 
and  it  would  be  an  ill  omen  for  the  freest 
and  most  successful  constitutional  govern- 
ment in  the  world  if  a  constitutional  objec- 
tion thus  fortified  should  be  carelessly 
considered  or  hastily  overridden.  This 
objection  rests  mainly  on  the  assumption 
that  the  name  "  United  States,"  as  used  in 
the  Constitution,  necessarily  includes  all 
territory  the  Nation  owns,  and  on  the 
historic  fact  that  large  parts  of  this  terri- 
tory, on  acquiring  sufficient  population, 
have  already  been  admitted  as  States,  and 
have  generally  considered  such  admission  to 
be  a  right.  Now,  Mr.  Chief  Justice  Marshall 
—than  whom  no  constitutional  authority 
carries  greater  weight— certainly  did  declare 
that  the  question  what  was  designated  by 
the  term  "  United  States "  in  the  clause  of 
the  Constitution  giving  power  to  levy  duties 
on  imposts  "admitted  of  but  one  answer." 
It  "designated  the  whole  of  the  American 
empire,  composed  of  States  and  Territories." 
If  that  be  accepted  as  final,  then  the  tariff 
must  be  applied  in  Manila  precisely  as  in 
New  York,  and  goods  from  Manila  must 
enter  the  New  York  custom-house  as  freely 
as  goods  from  New  Orleans.  Sixty  millions 
would  disappear  instantly  and  annually 
from  the  Treasury,  and  our  revenue  system 


OUB  NEW  DUTIES  119 

would  be  revolutionized  by  the  free  admis- 
sion of  sugar  and  other  tropical  products 
from  the  United  States  of  Asia  and  the 
Caribbean  Sea;  while,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  Philippines  themselves  would  be  fatally 
handicapped  by  a  tariff  wholly  unnatural  to 
their  locality  and  circumstances.  More.  If 
that  be  final,  the  term  "United  States" 
should  have  the  same  comprehensive  mean- 
ing in  the  clause  as  to  citizenship.  Then 
Aguinaldo  is  to-day  a  citizen  of  the  United 
States,  and  may  yet  run  for  the  Presidency. 
Still  more.  The  Asiatics  south  of  the  China 
Sea  are  given  that  free  admission  to  the 
country  which  we  so  strenuously  deny  to 
Asiatics  from  the  north  side  of  the  same  sea. 
Their  goods,  produced  on  wages  of  a  few  cents 
a  day,  come  into  free  competition  in  all  our 
home  markets  with  the  products  of  Ameri- 
can labor,  and  the  cheap  laborers  themselves 
are  free  to  follow  if  ever  our  higher  wages 
attract  them.  More  yet.  If  that  be  final, 
the  Tagals  and  other  tribes  of  Luzon,  the 
Visayans  of  Negros  and  Cebu,  and  the 
Mohammedan  Malays  of  Mindanao  and  the 
Sulus,  having  each  far  more  than  the  re- 
quisite population,  may  demand  admission 
next  winter  into  the  Union  as  free  and  in- 
dependent States,  with  representatives  in 
Senate  and  House,  and  may  plausibly  claim 
that  they  can  show  a  better  title  to  admis- 


120       PKOBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

sion   than   Nevada   ever   did,   or  Utah   or 
Idaho. 

Nor  does  the  great  name  of  Marshall  stand 
alone  in  support  of  such  conclusions.  The 
converse  theory  that  these  territories  are 
not  necessarily  included  in  the  constitutional 
term  "the  United  States"  makes  them  our 
subject  dependencies,  and  at  once  the  figure 
of  Jefferson  himself  is  evoked,  with  all  the 
signers  of  the  immortal  Declaration  grouped 
about  him,  renewing  the  old  war-cry  that 
government  derives  its  just  powers  from 
the  consent  of  the  governed.  At  different 
periods  in  our  history  eminent  statesmen 
have  made  protests  on  grounds  of  that  sort. 
Even  the  first  bill  for  Mr.  Jefferson's  own 
purchase  of  Louisiana  was  denounced  by  Mr. 
Macon  as  "  establishing  a  species  of  govern- 
ment unknown  to  the  United  States";  by 
Mr.  Lucas  as  "establishing  elementary 
principles  never  previously  introduced  in 
the  government  of  any  Territory  of  the 
United  States";  and  by  Mr.  Campbell  as 
"really  establishing  a  complete  despotism." 
In  1823  Chancellor  Kent  said,  with  reference 
to  Columbia  River  settlements,  that  "a 
government  by  Congress  as  absolute  sov- 
ereign, over  colonies,  absolute  dependents, 
was  not  congenial  to  the  free  and  in- 
dependent spirit  of  American  institutions." 
In  1848  John  C.  Calhoun  declared  that  "  the 


OUR  NEW  DUTIES  121 

conquest  and  retention  of  Mexico  as  a  prov- 
ince would  be  a  departure  from  the  settled 
policy  of  the  Government,  in  conflict  with 
its  character  and  genius,  and  in  the  end 
subversive  of  our  free  institutions."  In  1857 
Mr.  Chief  Justice  Taney  said  that  "  a  power 
to  rule  territory  without  restriction  as  a 
colony  or  dependent  province  would  be  in- 
consistent with  the  nature  of  our  Govern- 
ment." And  now,  following  warily  in  this 
line,  the  eminent  and  trusted  advocate  of 
similar  opinions  to-day,  Mr.  Senator  Hoar 
of  Massachusetts,  says :  "  The  making  of  new 
States  and  providing  national  defense  are 
constitutional  ends,  so  that  we  may  acquire 
and  hold  territory  for  those  purposes.  The 
governing  of  subject  peoples  is  not  a  consti- 
tutional end,  and  there  is  therefore  no  con- 
stitutional warrant  for  acquiring  and  holding 
territory  for  that  purpose." 

We  have  now,  as  is  believed,  presented  with  An  Alleged 
entire  fairness  a  summary  of  the  more  im-  Constitu= 
portant  aspects  in  which  the  constitutional  inability, 
objections  mentioned  have  been  urged.     I 
would  not  underrate  by  a  hair's  breadth  the 
authority  of  these  great  names,  the  weight 
of  these  continuous  reassertions  of  principle, 
the  sanction  even  of  the  precedent  and  gen- 
eral practice  through  a  century.     And  yet  I 
venture  to  think  that  no  candid  and  compe- 


122       PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

tent  man  can  thoroughly  investigate  the 
subject,  in  the  light  of  the  actual  provisions 
of  the  Constitution,  the  avowed  purpose  of 
its  framers,  their  own  practice  and  the  prac- 
tice of  their  successors,  without  being  abso- 
lutely convinced  that  this  whole  fabric  of 
opposition  on  constitutional  grounds  is  as 
flimsy  as  a  cobweb.  This  country  of  our 
love  and  pride  is  no  malformed,  congenital 
cripple  of  a  nation,  incapable  of  undertaking 
duties  that  have  been  found  within  the 
powers  of  every  other  nation  that  ever 
existed  since  governments  among  civilized 
men  began.  Neither  by  chains  forged  in  the 
Constitution  nor  by  chains  of  precedent, 
neither  by  the  dead  hand  we  all  revere,  that 
of  the  Father  of  his  Country,  nor  under  the 
most  authoritative  exponents  of  our  oi-ganic 
act  and  of  our  history,  are  we  so  bound  that 
we  cannot  undertake  any  duty  that  devolves 
or  exercise  any  power  which  the  emergency 
demands.  Our  Constitution  has  entrapped 
us  in  no  impasse,  where  retreat  is  disgrace 
and  advance  is  impossible.  The  duty  which 
the  hand  of  Providence,  rather  than  any 
purpose  of  man,  has  laid  upon  us,  is  within 
our  constitutional  powers.  Let  me  invoke 
your  patience  for  a  rather  minute  and  per- 
haps wearisome  detail  of  the  proof. 

The  notion  that  the  United  States  is  an 
inferior  sort  of  nation,  constitutionally  with- 


OUR  NEW  DUTIES  123 

out  power  for  such  public  duties  as  other 
nations  habitually  assume,  may  perhaps  be 
dismissed  with  a  single  citation  from  the 
Supreme  Court.  Said  Mr.  Justice  Bradley, 
in  the  Legal  Tender  Cases :  "As  a  government 
it  [the  United  States]  was  invested  with  all 

the  attributes  of  sovereignty It  seems  to 

be  a  self-evident  proposition  that  it  is  in- 
vested with  all  those  inherent  and  implied 
powers  w^hich,  at  the  time  of  adopting  the 
Constitution,  were  generally  considered  to 
belong  to  every  government  as  such,  and  as 
being  essential  to  the  exercise  of  its  func- 
tions" (12  Wall.  554). 

Every  one  recalls  this  constitutional  pro- 
vision :  "  The  Congress  shall  have  power  to 
dispose  of  and  make  all  needful  rules  and 
regulations  respecting  the  territory  or  other 
property  of  the  United  States."  That  grant 
is  absolute,  and  the  only  qualification  is  the 
one  to  be  drawn  from  the  general  spirit  of 
the  Government  the  Constitution  was  framed 
to  organize.  Is  it  consistent  with  that  spirit 
to  hold  territory  permanently,  or  for  long 
periods  of  time,  without  admitting  it  to  the 
Union!  Let  the  man  who  wrote  the  very 
clause  in  question  answer.  That  man  was 
Gouverneur  Morris  of  New  York,  and  you 
will  find  his  answer  on  page  192  of  the  third 
volume  of  his  writings,  given  only  fifteen 
years  after,  in  reply  to  a  direct  question  as 


124       PKOBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

to  the  exact  meaning  of  the  clause :  "  I  always 
thought,  when  we  should  acquire  Canada 
and  Louisiana,  it  would  be  proper  to  govern 
them  as  provinces,  and  allow  them  no  voice 
in  our  councils.  In  wording  the  third  sec- 
tion of  the  fourth  article,  I  went  as  far  as 
circumstances  would  permit  to  establish  the 
exclusion.''  This  framer  of  the  Constitution 
desired  then,  and  intended  definitely  and 
permanently,  to  keep  Louisiana  out!  And 
yet  there  are  men  who  tell  us  the  provision 
he  drew  would  not  even  permit  us  to  keep 
the  Philippines  out!  To  be  more  papist 
than  the  Pope  will  cease  to  be  a  thing 
exciting  wonder  if  every  day  modern  men, 
in  the  consideration  of  practical  and  pressing 
problems,  are  to  be  more  narrowly  constitu- 
tional than  the  men  that  wrote  the  Consti- 
tution ! 

Is  it  said  that,  at  any  rate,  our  practice 
under  this  clause  of  the  Constitution  has 
been  against  the  view  of  the  man  that  wrote 
it,  and  in  favor  of  that  quoted  from  Mr.  Chief 
Justice  Marshall!  Does  anybody  seriously 
think,  then,  that  though  we  have  held  New 
Mexico,  Arizona,  and  Oklahoma  as  territory 
organized  or  unorganized,  part  of  it  nearly 
a  century  and  all  of  it  half  a  century,  our 
representatives  believed  all  the  while  they 
had  no  constitutional  right  to  do  so?  Who 
imagines  that  when  the  third  of  a  century 


OUR  NEW  DUTIES  125 

during  which  we  have  already  held  Alaska 
is  rounded  out  to  a  full  century,  that  unor- 
ganized Territory  will  even  then  have  any 
greater  prospect  than  at  present  of  ad- 
mission as  a  State?  or  who  believes  our 
grandchildren  will  be  violating  the  Consti- 
tution in  keeping  it  out?  Who  imagines 
that  under  the  Constitution  ordained  on  this 
continent  specifically  "  for  the  United  States 
of  America,^^  we  will  ever  permit  the  Kanakas, 
Chinese,  and  Japanese,  who  make  up  a  ma- 
jority of  the  population  in  the  Sandwich 
Islands,  to  set  up  a  government  of  their 
own  and  claim  admission  as  an  independent 
and  sovereign  State  of  our  American  Union  ? 
Finally,  let  me  add  that  conclusive  proof 
relating  not  only  to  practice  under  the  Con- 
stitution, but  to  the  precise  construction  of 
the  constitutional  language  as  to  the  Terri- 
tories by  the  highest  authority,  in  the  light 
of  long  previous  practice,  is  to  be  found  in 
another  part  of  the  instrument  itself,  delib- 
erately added  three  quarters  of  a  century 
later.  Article  XIII  provides  that  "  neither 
slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude  shall  exist 
within  the  United  States,  or  any  place  subject 
to  their  jurisdiction!'''  If  the  term  "  the  United 
States,"  as  used  in  the  Constitution,  really 
includes  the  Territories  as  an  integral  part, 
as  Mr.  Chief  Justice  Marshall  said,  what, 
then,  does  the  Constitution  mean  by  the  ad- 


126       PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

ditional  words,  "  or  any  place  subject  to  their 
jurisdiction"!  Is  it  not  too  plain  for  argu- 
ment that  the  Constitution  here  refers  to 
territory  not  a  part  of  the  United  States, 
but  subject  to  its  jurisdiction— territory,  for 
example,  like  the  Sandwich  Islands  or  the 
Philippines  I 

What,  then,  shall  we  say  to  the  opinion  of 
the  great  Chief  Justice !— for,  after  all,  his  is 
not  a  name  to  be  dealt  with  lightly.  Well, 
first,  it  was  a  dictum,  not  a  decision  of  the 
court.  Next,  in  another  and  later  case,  be- 
fore the  same  eminent  jurist,  came  a  con- 
stitutional expounder  as  eminent  and  as 
generally  accepted,— none  other  than  Daniel 
Webster,— who  took  precisely  the  opposite 
view.  He  was  discussing  the  condition  of 
certain  territory  on  this  continent  which  we 
had  recently  acquired.  Said  Mr.  Webster: 
"What  is  Florida!  It  is  no  part  of  the 
United  States.  How  can  it  be  !  Florida  is 
to  be  governed  by  Congress  as  it  thinks 
proper.  Congress  might  have  done  any- 
thing—might have  refused  a  trial  by  jury, 
and  refused  a  legislature.''  After  this  flat 
contradiction  of  the  court's  former  dictum, 
what  happened  !  Mr.  Webster  won  his  case, 
and  the  Chief  Justice  made  not  the  slightest 
reference  to  his  own  previous  and  directly 
conflicting  opinion !  Need  we  give  it  more 
attention  now  than  Marshall  did  then ! 


OUR  NEW  DUTIES  127 

Mr.  Webster  maintained  the  same  position 
long  afterward,  in  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States,  in  opposition  to  Mr.  John  C.  Calhoun, 
and  his  view  has  been  continuously  sustained 
since  by  the  courts  and  by  congressional  ac- 
tion. In  the  debate  with  Mr.  Calhoun  in 
February,  1849,  Mr.  Webster  said:  "What 
is  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  ?  Is 
not  its  very  first  principle  that  all  within 
its  influence  and  comprehension  shall  be 
represented  in  the  Legislature  which  it  es- 
tablishes, with  not  only  a  right  of  debate 
and  a  right  to  vote  in  both  houses  of  Con- 
gress, but  a  right  to  partake  in  the  choice 
of  President  and  Vice-President  I  .  .  .  The 
President  of  the  United  States  shall  govern 
this  territory  as  he  sees  fit  till  Congress 
makes  further  provision.  .  .  .  We  have 
never  had  a  territory  governed  as  the 
United  States  is  governed.  ...  I  do  not 
say  that  while  we  sit  here  to  make  laws  for 
these  territories,  we  are  not  bound  by  every 
one  of  those  great  principles  which  are  in- 
tended as  general  securities  for  public  liberty. 
But  they  do  not  exist  in  territories  till  intro- 
duced by  the  authority  of  Congress.  .  .  . 
Our  history  is  uniform  in  its  course.  It 
began  with  the  acquisition  of  Louisiana. 
It  went  on  after  Florida  became  a  part  of 
the  Union.  In  all  cases,  under  all  circum- 
stances, by  every  proceeding  of  Congress  on 


128       PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

the  subject  and  by  all  judicature  on  the  sub- 
ject, it  has  been  held  that  territories  belong- 
ing to  the  United  States  were  to  be  governed 
by  a  constitution  of  their  own,  .  .  .  and  in 
approving  that  constitution  the  legislation 
of  Congress  was  not  necessarily  confined  to 
those  principles  that  bind  it  when  it  is  exer- 
cised in  passing  laws  for  the  United  States 
itself."  Mr.  Calhoun,  in  the  course  of  this 
debate,  asked  Mr.  Webster  for  judicial  opin- 
ion sustaining  these  views,  and  Mr.  Webster 
said  that  "  the  same  thing  has  been  decided 
by  the  United  States  courts  over  and  over 
again  for  the  last  thirty  years." 

I  may  add  that  it  has  been  so  held  over 
and  over  again  during  the  subsequent  fifty. 
Mr.  Chief  Justice  Waite,  giving  the  opinion 
of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States 
(in  National  Bank  v.  County  of  Yankton, 
101  U.  S.  129-132),  said:  "It  is  certainly 
now  too  late  to  doubt  the  power  of  Congress 
to  govern  the  Territories.  Congress  is  su- 
preme, and,  for  all  the  purposes  of  this 
department,  has  all  the  powers  of  the  people 
of  the  United  States,  except  such  as  have 
been  expressly  or  by  implication  reserved  in 
the  prohibitions  of  the  Constitution." 

Mr.  Justice  Stanley  Matthews  of  the 
United  States  Supreme  Court  stated  the 
same  view  with  even  greater  clearness  in 
one  of  the  Utah  polygamy  cases  (Murphy 


OUR  NEW  DUTIES  129 

V,  Ramsey,  114  U.  S.  44,  45) :  "  It  rests  with 
Congress  to  say  whether  in  a  given  case 
any  of  the  people  resident  in  the  Territory 
shall  participate  in  the  election  of  its  officers 
or  the  making  of  its  laws.  It  may  take  from 
them  any  right  of  suffrage  it  may  previously 
have  conferred,  or  at  any  time  modify  or 
abridge  it,  as  it  may  deem  expedient.  .  .  . 
Their  political  rights  are  franchises  which 
they  hold  as  privileges,  in  the  legislative 
discretion  of  the  United  States." 

The  very  latest  judicial  utterance  on  the 
subject  is  in  harmony  with  all  the  rest.  Mr. 
Justice  Morrow  of  the  United  States  Court 
of  Appeals  for  the  Ninth  Circuit,  in  Febru- 
ary, 1898,  held  (57  U.  S.  Appeals  6):  "The 
now  well-established  doctrine  [is]  that  the 
Territories  of  the  United  States  are  entirely 
subject  to  the  legislative  authority  of  Con- 
gress. They  are  not  organized  under  the 
Constitution  nor  subject  to  its  complex  dis- 
tribution of  the  powers  of  government.  The 
United  States,  having  rightfully  acquired 
the  Territories,  and  being  the  only  Govern- 
ment which  can  impose  laws  upon  them,  has 
the  entire  dominion  and  sovereignty,  na- 
tional and  municipal.  Federal  and  State." 

In  the  light  of  such  expositions  of  our  con-  More  Recent 
stitutional  power  and  our  uniform  national  {jJna*/*""' 
practice,  it  is  difficult  to  deal  patiently  with  Objections. 


130       PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

the  remaining  objections  to  the  acquisition 
of  territory,  purporting  to  be  based  on  con- 
stitutional grounds.  One  is  that  to  govern 
the  Philippines  without  their  consent  or 
against  the  opposition  of  Aguinaldo  is  to 
violate  the  principle— only  formulated,  to  be 
sure,  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
but,  as  they  say,  underlying  the  whole  Con- 
stitution—that government  derives  its  just 
powers  from  the  consent  of  the  governed. 
In  the  Sulu  group  piracy  prevailed  for  cen- 
turies. How  could  a  government  that 
put  it  down  rest  on  the  consent  of  Sulu? 
Would  it  be  without  just  powers  because  the 
pirates  did  not  vote  in  its  favor  I  In  other 
parts  of  the  archipelago  what  has  been  stig- 
matized as  a  species  of  slavery  prevails. 
Would  a  government  that  stopped  that  be 
without  just  powers  till  the  slaveholders  had 
conferred  them  at  a  popular  election?  In 
another  part  head- hunting  is,  at  certain  sea- 
sons of  the  year,  a  recognized  tribal  custom. 
Would  a  government  that  interfered  with 
that  practice  be  open  to  denunciation  as  an 
usurpation,  without  just  powers,  and  fla- 
grantly violating  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  unless  it  waited  at  the  polls 
for  the  consent  of  the  head-hunters?  The 
truth  is,  all  intelligent  men  know— and  few 
even  in  America,  except  obvious  dema- 
gogues, hesitate  to  admit— that  there  are 


OUK  NEW  DUTIES  131 

cases  where  a  good  government  does  not 
and  ought  not  to  rest  on  the  consent  of  the 
governed.  If  men  will  not  govern  them- 
selves with  respect  for  civilization  and  its 
agencies,  then  when  they  get  in  the  way 
they  must  be  governed— always  have  been, 
whenever  the  world  was  not  retrograding, 
and  always  will  be.  The  notion  that  such 
government  is  a  revival  of  slavery,  and  that 
the  United  States  by  doing  its  share  of  such 
work  in  behalf  of  civilization  would  therefore 
become  infamous,  though  put  forward  with 
apparent  gravity  in  some  eminently  respec- 
table quarters,  is  too  fantastic  for  serious 
consideration. 

Mr.  Jefferson  may  be  supposed  to  have 
known  the  meaning  of  the  words  he  wrote. 
Instead  of  vindicating  a  righteous  rebellion 
in  the  Declaration,  he  was  called,  after  a  time, 
to  exercise  a  righteous  government  under  the 
Constitution.  Did  he  himself,  then,  carry  his 
own  words  to  such  extremes  as  these  pro- 
fessed disciples  now  demand  f  Was  he  guilty 
of  subverting  the  principles  of  the  Govern- 
ment in  buying  some  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  Spaniards,  Frenchmen,  Creoles,  and  In- 
dians, "  like  sheep  in  the  shambles,"  as  the 
critics  untruthfully  say  we  did  in  the  Philip- 
pines 1  We  bought  nobody  there.  We  held  the 
Philippines  first  by  the  same  right  by  which 
we  held  our  own  original  thirteen  States,— 


132       PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

the  oldest  and  firmest  of  all  rights,  the  right 
by  which  nearly  every  great  nation  holds 
the  bulk  of  its  territory,— the  right  of  con- 
quest. We  held  them  again  as  a  rightful 
indemnity,  and  a  low  one,  for  a  war  in  which 
the  vanquished  could  give  no  other.  We 
bought  nothing;  and  the  twenty  millions 
that  accompanied  the  transfer  just  balanced 
the  Philippine  debt. 

But  Jefferson  did,  if  you  choose  to  accept 
the  hypercritical  interpretation  of  these 
latter-day  Jeff ersonians— Jefferson  did  buy 
the  Louisianians,  even  "like  sheep  in  the 
shambles,"  if  you  care  so  to  describe  it ;  and 
did  proceed  to  govern  them  without  the  con- 
sent of  the  governed.  Monroe  bought  the 
Floridians  without  their  consent.  Polk  con- 
quered the  Californians,  and  Pierce  bought 
the  New  Mexicans.  Seward  bought  the 
Russians  and  Alaskans,  and  we  have  gov- 
erned them  ever  since,  without  their  con- 
sent. Is  it  easy,  in  the  face  of  such  facts, 
to  preserve  your  respect  for  an  objection  so 
obviously  captious  as  that  based  on  the 
phrase  from  the  Declaration  of  Indepen- 
dence ? 

Nor  is  the  turn  Senator  Hoar  gives  the 
constitutional  objection  much  more  weighty. 
He  wishes  to  take  account  of  motives,  and 
pry  into  the  purpose  of  those  concerned  in 
any    acquisition    of    territory,    before    the 


OUR  NEW  DUTIES  133 

tribunals  can  decide  whether  it  is  consti- 
tutional or  not.  If  acquired  either  for  the 
national  defense  or  to  be  made  a  State,  the 
act  is  constitutional;  otherwise  not.  If, 
then,  Jefferson  intended  to  make  a  State 
out  of  Idaho,  his  act  in  acquiring  that  part 
of  the  Louisiana  Purchase  was  all  right. 
Otherwise  he  violated  the  Constitution  he 
had  helped  to  make  and  sworn  to  uphold. 
And  yet,  poor  man,  he  hardly  knew  of  the 
existence  of  that  part  of  the  territory,  and 
certainly  never  dreamed  that  it  would  ever 
become  a  State,  any  more  than  Daniel 
Webster  dreamed,  to  quote  his  own  lan- 
guage in  the  Senate,  that  "  California  would 
ever  be  worth  a  doUar."  Is  Gouverneur 
Morris  to  be  arraigned  as  false  to  the  Con- 
stitution he  helped  to  frame  because  he 
wanted  to  acquire  Louisiana  and  Canada, 
and  keep  them  both  out  of  the  Union  ?  Did 
Mr.  Seward  betray  the  Constitution  and 
violate  his  oath  in  buying  Alaska  without 
the  purpose  of  making  it  a  State !  It  seems — 
let  it  be  said  with  all  respect— that  we  have 
reached  the  reductio  ad  absurdum,  and  that 
the  constitutional  argument  in  any  of  its 
phases  need  not  be  further  pursued. 

If  I  have  wearied  you  with  these  detailed  The  Little 
proofs  of  a  doctrine  which  Mr.  Justice  Mor-  Americans, 
row  rightly  says  is  now  well  established,  and 


134       PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

these  replies  to  its  assailants,  the  apology 
must  be  found  in  the  persistence  with  which 
the  utter  lack  of  constitutional  power  to  deal 
with  our  new  possessions  has  been  vocifer- 
ously urged  from  the  outset  by  the  large 
class  of  our  people  whom  I  venture  to  des- 
ignate as  the  Little  Americans,  using  that 
teim  not  in  the  least  in  disparagement,  but 
solely  as  distinctive  and  convenient.  From 
the  beginning  of  the  century,  at  every  epoch 
in  our  history  we  have  had  these  Little 
Americans.  They  opposed  Jefferson  as  to 
getting  Louisiana.  They  opposed  Monroe 
as  to  Florida.  They  were  vehement  against 
Texas,  against  California,  against  organizing 
Oregon  and  Washington,  against  the  Gads- 
den Purchase,  against  Alaska,  and  against 
the  Sandwich  Islands.  At  nearly  every 
stage  in  that  long  story  of  expansion  the 
Little  Americans  have  either  denied  the 
constitutional  authority  to  acquire  and 
govern,  or  denounced  the  acquisitions  as 
worthless  and  dangerous.  At  one  stage, 
indeed,  they  went  further.  When  State 
after  State  was  passing  ordinances  of  seces- 
sion, they  raised  the  cry,— erroneously  at- 
tributed to  my  distinguished  predecessor 
and  friend,  Horace  Greeley,  but  really  ut- 
tered by  Winfield  Scott,— "Wayward  Sisters, 
depart  in  peace !  "  Happily,  this  form,  too, 
of  Little  Americanism  failed.    We  are  all 


OUE  NEW  DUTIES  135 

glad  now,— my  distinguislied  classmate  here,^ 
who  wore  the  gray  and  invaded  Ohio  with 
Morgan,  as  glad  as  myself,— we  all  rejoice 
that  these  doctrines  were  then  opposed  and 
overborne.  It  was  seen  then,  and  I  venture 
to  think  it  may  be  seen  now,  that  it  is  a 
fundamental  principle  with  the  American 
people,  and  a  duty  imposed  upon  all  who 
represent  them,  to  maintain  the  Continental 
Union  of  American  Independent  States  in 
all  the  purity  of  the  fathers'  conception ;  to 
hold  what  belongs  to  it,,  and  get  what  it  is 
entitled  to;  and,  finally,  that  wherever  its 
flag  has  been  rightfully  advanced,  there  it  is 
to  be  kept.  If  that  be  Imperialism,  make 
the  most  of  it ! 

It  was  no  vulgar  lust  of  power  that  inspired  The  Plain 
the  statesmen  and  soldiers  of  the  Eepublic  P**h»*^"*y- 
when  they  resisted  the  halting  counsel  of  the 
Little  Americans  in  the  past.    Nor  is  it  now. 
Far  other  is  the  spirit  we  invoke : 

Stern  daughter  of  the  Voice  of  God, 

O  Duty !     If  that  name  thou  love- 
in  that  name  we  beg  for  a  study  of  what  the 
new  situation  that  is  upon  us,  the  new  world 
opening   around   us,  now   demand   at   our 
hands. 

1  The  Hon.  Albert  S.  Berry,  M.  C,  from  the  Covington, 
Kentucky,  District. 


136       PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

The  people  of  the  United  States  will  not 
refuse  an  appeal  in  that  name.  They  never 
have.  They  had  been  so  occupied,  since 
the  Civil  War,  first  in  repairing  its  ravages, 
and  then  in  occupying  and  possessing  their 
own  continent,  they  had  been  so  little  ac- 
customed, in  this  generation  or  the  last,  to 
even  the  thought  of  foreign  war,  that  one 
readily  understands  why  at  the  outset  they 
hardly  realized  how  absolute  is  the  duty  of 
an  honorable  conqueror  to  accept  and  dis- 
charge the  responsibilities  of  his  conquest. 
But  this  is  no  longer  a  child-nation,  irre- 
sponsible in  its  nonage  and  incapable  of 
comprehending  or  assuming  the  responsibil- 
ities of  its  acts.  A  child  that  breaks  a  pane 
of  glass  or  sets  fire  to  a  house  may  indeed 
escape.  Are  we  to  plead  the  baby  act,  and 
claim  that  we  can  flounce  around  the  world, 
breaking  international  china  and  burning 
property,  and  yet  repudiate  the  bill  because 
we  have  not  come  of  age?  Who  dare  say 
that  a  self-respecting  Power  could  have  sailed 
away  from  Manila  and  repudiated  the  re- 
sponsibilities of  its  victorious  belligerency? 
After  going  into  a  war  for  humanity,  were 
we  so  craven  that  we  should  seek  freedom 
from  further  trouble  at  the  expense  of  civi- 
lization ? 

If  we  did  not  want  those  responsibilities  we 
ought  not  to  have  gone  to  war,  and  I,  for 


OUR  NEW  DUTIES  137 

one,  would  have  been  content.  But  having 
chosen  to  go  to  war,  and  having  been  speedily 
and  overwhelmingly  successful,  we  should  be 
ashamed  even  to  think  of  running  away  from 
what  inexorably  followed.  Mark  what  the 
successive  steps  were,  and  how  link  by  link 
the  chain  that  binds  us  now  was  forged. 

The  moment  war  was  foreseen  the  fleet 
we  usually  have  in  Chinese  waters  became 
indispensable,  not  merely,  as  before,  to  pro- 
tect our  trade  and  our  missionaries  in  China, 
but  to  checkmate  the  Spanish  fleet,  which 
otherwise  held  San  Francisco  and  the  whole 
Pacific  coast  at  its  mercy.  When  war  was 
declared  our  fleet  was  necessarily  ordered 
out  of  neutral  ports.  Then  it  had  to  go  to 
Manila  or  go  home.  If  it  went  home,  it  left 
the  whole  Pacific  coast  unguarded,  save  at 
the  particular  point  it  touched,  and  we  should 
have  been  at  once  in  a  fever  of  apprehension, 
chartering  hastily  another  fleet  of  the  fastest 
ocean-going  steamers  we  could  find  in  the 
world,  to  patrol  the  Pacific  from  San  Diego  to 
Sitka,  as  we  did  have  to  patrol  the  Atlantic 
from  Key  West  to  Bar  Harbor.  Palpably  this 
was  to  go  the  longest  way  around  to  do  a  task 
that  had  to  be  done  in  any  event,  as  well  as 
to  demoralize  our  forces  at  the  opening  of  the 
war  with  a  manoeuver  in  which  our  Navy 
has  never  been  expert— that  of  avoiding  a 
contest  and  sailing  away  from  the  enemy ! 


138       PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

The  alternative  was  properly  taken.  Dewey 
went  to  Manila  and  sank  the  Spanish  fleet. 
We  thus  broke  down  Spanish  means  for  con- 
trolling the' Philippines,  and  were  left  with 
the  Spanish  responsibility  for  maintaining 
order  there— responsibility  to  all  the  world, 
German,  English,  Japanese,  Russian,  and 
the  rest— in  one  of  the  great  centers  and 
highways  of  the  world's  commerce. 

But  why  not  turn  over  that  commercial 
center  and  the  island  on  which  it  is  situated 
to  the  Tagals  I  To  be  sure !  Under  three 
hundred  years  of  Spanish  rule  barbarism  on 
Luzon  had  so  far  disappeared  that  this  com- 
mercial metropolis,  as  large  as  San  Francisco 
or  Cincinnati,  had  sprung  up  and  come  to  be 
thronged  by  traders  and  travelers  of  all  na- 
tions. Now  it  is  calmly  suggested  that  we 
might  have  turned  it  over  to  one  semi-civi- 
lized tribe,  absolutely  without  experience  in 
governing  even  itself,  much  less  a  great  com- 
munity of  foreigners,  probably  in  a  minor- 
ity on  the  island,  and  at  war  with  its  other 
inhabitants— a  tribe  which  has  given  the 
measure  of  its  fitness  for  being  charged  with 
the  rights  of  foreigners  and  the  care  of  a 
commercial  metropolis  by  the  violation  of 
flags  of  truce,  treachery  to  the  living,  and 
mutilation  of  the  dead  which  have  marked  its 
recent  wanton  rising  against  the  Power  that 
was  trying  to  help  it ! 


OUR  NEW  DUTIES  139 

If  running  away  from  troublesome  respon- 
sibility and  duty  is  our  role,  why  did  we  not 
long  ago  take  the  opportunity,  in  our  early 
feebleness,  to  turn  over  Tallahassee  and  St. 
Augustine  to  the  Seminoles,  instead  of  send- 
ing Andrew  Jackson  to  protect  the  settle- 
ments and  subdue  the  savages?  Why,  at 
the  first  Apache  outbreak  after  the  Gadsden 
Purchase,  did  we  not  hasten  to  turn  over 
New  Mexico  and  Arizona  to  their  inhab- 
itants? Or  why,  in  years  within  the  mem- 
ory of  most  of  you,  when  the  Sioux  and 
Chippewas  rose  on  our  Northwestern  fron- 
tier, did  we  not  invite  them  to  retain  pos- 
session of  St.  Cloud,  and  even  come  down,  if 
they  liked,  to  St.  Paul  and  Minneapolis  ? 

Unless  I  am  mistaken  in  regarding  all 
these  suggestions  as  too  unworthy  to  be 
entertained  by  self-respecting  citizens  of  a 
powerful  and  self-respecting  nation,  we  have 
now  reached  two  conclusions  that  ought  to 
clear  the  air  and  simplify  the  problem  that 
remains:  First,  we  have  ample  constitu- 
tional power  to  acquire  and  govern  new 
territory  absolutely  at  will,  according  to 
our  sense  of  right  and  duty,  whether  as  de- 
pendencies, as  colonies,  or  as  a  protectorate. 
Secondly,  as  the  legitimate  and  necessary 
consequence  of  our  own  previous  acts,  it 
has  become  our  national  and  international 
duty  to  do  it. 


140       PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

The  Policy  How  shall  we  set  about  it  ?  What  shall  be 
Dependen-  ^^®  policy  with  which,  when  order  has  been 
des.  inexorably  restored,  we  begin  our  dealings 

with  the  new  wards  of  the  Nation?  Cer- 
tainly we  must  mark  our  disapproval  of  the 
treachery  and  barbarities  of  the  present  con- 
test. As  certainly  the  oppression  of  other 
tribes  by  the  Tagals  must  be  ended,  or  the 
oppression  of  any  tribe  by  any  other  within 
the  sphere  of  our  active  control.  Wars  be- 
tween the  tribes  must  be  discouraged  and 
prevented.  We  must  seek  to  suppress  crimes 
of  violence  and  private  vengeance,  secure 
individual  liberty,  protect  individual  prop- 
erty, and  promote  the  study  of  the  arts  of 
peace.  Above  all,  we  must  give  and  enforce 
justice;  and  for  the  rest,  as  far  as  possible, 
leave  them  alone.  By  all  means  let  us  avoid 
a  fussy  meddling  with  their  customs,  man- 
ners, prejudices,  and  beliefs.  Give  them 
order  and  justice,  and  trust  to  these  to  win 
them  in  other  regards  to  our  ways.  All  this 
points  directly  to  utilizing  existing  agencies 
as  much  as  possible,  developing  native  ini- 
tiative and  control  in  local  matters  as  fast 
and  as  far  as  we  can,  and  ultimately  giving 
them  the  greatest  degree  of  self-government 
for  which  they  prove  themselves  fitted. 

Under  any  conditions  that  exist  now,  or 
have  existed  for  three  hundred  years,  a 
homogeneous  native  government  over  the 


OUE  NEW  DUTIES  141 

whole  archipelago  is  obviously  impossible. 
Its  relations  to  the  outside  world  must  neces- 
sarily be  assumed  by  us.  We  must  preserve 
order  in  Philippine  waters,  regulate  the  har- 
bors, fix  and  collect  the  duties,  apportion 
the  revenue,  and  supervise  the  expenditure. 
We  must  enforce  sanitary  measures.  We 
must  retain  such  a  control  of  the  superior 
courts  as  shall  make  justice  certainly  attain- 
able, and  such  control  of  the  police  as  shall 
insure  its  enforcement.  But  in  all  this,  after 
the  absolute  authority  has  been  established, 
the  further  the  natives  can  themselves  be 
used  to  carry  out  the  details,  the  better. 

Such  a  system  might  not  be  unwise  even 
for  a  colony  to  which  we  had  reason  to  ex- 
pect a  considerable  emigration  of  our  own 
people.  If  experience  of  a  kindred  nation 
in  dealing  with  similar  problems  counts  for 
anything,  it  is  certainly  wise  for  a  distant 
dependency,  always  to  be  populated  mainly, 
save  in  the  great  cities,  by  native  races,  and 
little  likely  ever  to  be  quite  able  to  stand 
alone,  while,  nevertheless,  we  wish  to  help 
it  just  as  much  as  possible  to  that  end. 

Cektainly  this  is  no  bed  of  flowery  ease  in  The  Duty  of 
the  dreamy  Orient  to  which  we  are  led.    No  s"***a„ts 
doubt  these  first  glimpses  of  the  task  that 
lies  before  us,  as  well  as  the  warfare  with 
distant  tribes  into  which  we  have  been  unex- 


142       PEOBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

pectedly  plunged,  will  provoke  for  the  time 
a  certain  discontent  with  our  new  posses- 
sions. But  on  a  far-reaching  question  of 
national  policy  the  wise  public  man  is  not 
so  greatly  disturbed  by  what  people  say  in 
momentary  discouragement  under  the  first 
temporary  check.  That  which  really  con- 
cerns him  is  what  people  at  a  later  day,  or 
even  in  a  later  generation,  might  say  of  men 
trusted  with  great  duties  for  their  country, 
who  proved  unequal  to  their  opportunities, 
and  through  some  short-sighted  timidity  of 
the  moment  lost  the  chance  of  centuries. 

It  is  quite  true,  as  was  recently  reported 
in  what  seemed  an  authoritative  way  from 
Washington,  that  the  Peace  Commissioners 
were  not  entirely  of  one  mind  at  the  outset, 
and  equally  true  that  the  final  conclusion  at 
Washington  was  apparently  reached  on  the 
Commission's  recommendation  from  Paris. 
As  the  cold  fit,  in  the  language  of  one  of  our 
censors,  has  followed  the  hot  fit  in  the  popu- 
lar temper,  I  readily  take  the  time  which 
hostile  critics  consider  unfavorable,  for  ac- 
cepting my  own  share  of  responsibility,  and 
for  avowing  for  myself  that  I  declared  my 
belief  in  the  duty  and  policy  of  holding  the 
whole  Philippine  Archipelago  in  the  very 
first  conference  of  the  Commissioners  in  the 
President's  room  at  the  White  House,  in 
advance  of  any  instructions  of  any  sort.    If 


OUR  NEW  DUTIES  143 

vindication  for  it  be  needed,  I  confidently 
await  the  future. 

What  is  the  duty  of  a  public  servant  as  to 
profiting  by  opportunities  to  secure  for  his 
country  what  all  the  rest  of  the  world  con- 
siders material  advantages?  Even  if  he 
could  persuade  himself  that  rejecting  them 
is  morally  and  internationally  admissible, 
is  he  at  liberty  to  commit  his  country  ir- 
revocably to  their  rejection,  because  they  do 
not  wholly  please  his  individual  fancy  ?  At 
a  former  negotiation  of  our  own  in  Paris,  the 
great  desire  of  the  United  States  representa- 
tive, as  well  as  of  his  Government,  had  been 
mainly  to  secure  the  settled  or  partly  settled 
country  adjoining  us  on  the  south,  stretch- 
ing from  the  Floridas  to  the  city  of  New 
Orleans.  The  possession  of  the  vast  unset- 
tled and  unknown  Louisiana  Territory,  west 
of  the  Mississippi,  was  neither  sought  nor 
thought  of.  Suddenly,  on  an  eventful  morn- 
ing in  April,  1803,  Talleyrand  astonished 
Livingston  by  offering,  on  behalf  of  Napo- 
leon, to  sell  to  the  United  States,  not  the 
Floridas  at  all,  but  merely  Louisiana,  "  a  raw 
little  semi-tropical  frontier  town  and  an  un- 
explored wilderness." 

Suppose  Livingston  had  rejected  the  offer  ? 
Or  suppose  Gadsden  had  not  exceeded  his 
instructions  in  Mexico  and  boldly  grasped 
the  opportunity  that  offered  to  rectify  and 


144       PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

make  secure  our  Southwestern  frontier? 
Would  this  generation  judge  that  they  had 
been  equal  to  their  opportunities  or  their 
duties  ? 

The  difficulties  which  at  present  discour- 
age us  are  largely  of  our  own  creation.  It 
is  not  for  any  of  us  to  think  of  attempting 
to  apportion  the  blame.  The  only  thing  we 
are  sure  of  is  that  it  was  for  no  lack  of  au- 
thority that  we  hesitated  and  drifted  till  the 
Tagals  were  convinced  we  were  afraid  of 
them,  and  could  be  driven  out  before  rein- 
forcements arrived.  That  was  the  very 
thing  our  officers  had  warned  us  against, — 
the  least  sign  of  hesitation  or  uncertainty, — 
the  very  danger  every  European  with  know- 
ledge of  the  situation  had  dinned  in  our 
ears.  Everybody  declared  that  difficulties 
were  sure  to  grow  on  our  hands  in  geomet- 
rical proportion  to  our  delays;  and  it  was 
perfectly  known  to  the  respective  branches 
of  our  Government  primarily  concerned  that 
while  the  delay  went  on  it  was  in  neglect  of 
a  duty  we  had  voluntarily  assumed. 

For  the  American  Commissioners,  with 
due  authority,  distinctly  offered  to  assume 
responsibility,  pending  the  ratification  of 
the  treaty,  for  the  protection  of  life  and 
property  and  the  preservation  of  order 
throughout  the  whole  archipelago.  The 
Spanish  Commissioners,  after  consultation 


OUR  NEW   DUTIES  145 

with  their  Government,  refused  this,  but 
agreed  that  each  Power  should  be  charged, 
pending  the  ratification,  with  the  mainte- 
nance of  order  in  the  places  where  it  was 
established.  The  American  assent  to  that 
left  absolutely  no  question  as  to  the  dimin- 
ished but  still  grave  responsibility  thus  de- 
volved.^ That  responsibility  was  avoided 
from  the  hour  the  treaty  was  signed  till  the 
hour  when  the  Tagal  chieftain,  at  the  head 
of  an  army  he  had  been  deliberately  gather- 
ing and  organizing,  took  things  in  his  own 
hand  and  made  the  attack  he  had  so  long 
threatened.  Disorder,  forced  loans,  impress- 
ment, confiscation,  seizure  of  waterworks, 
contemptuous  violations  of  our  guard-lines, 
and  even  the  practical  siege  of  the  city  of 
Manila,  had  meantime  been  going  on  within 
gunshot  of  troops  held  there  inactive  by  the 
Nation  which  had  volunteered  responsibility 
for  order  throughout  the  archipelago,  and 

1  Protocol  No.  19  of  the  of  ratifications  of  the  treaty 

Paris    Commission,    Confer-  of  peace,  stated  that  the  an- 

ence    of  December  5,  1898 :  swer  of  his  Government  was 

''The  President  of  the  Span-  that  the  authorities  of  each 

ish       Commission       having  of  the  two  nations  shall  be 

agreed,  at  the  last  session,  to  charged    with    the     mainte- 

consult  his  Government  re-  nance  of  order  in  the  places 

garding  the  proposal  of  the  where  they  may  be   estab- 

American  Commissioners  that  lished,      those      authorities 

the    United     States    should  agreeing  among  themselves 

maintain  public  order  over  to  this  end  whenever  they 

the  whole  Philippine  Arehi-  may  deem  it  necessary." 
pelago  pending  the  exchange 

10 


146       PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

had  been  distinctly  left  with  responsibility 
for  order  in  the  island  on  which  it  was  es- 
tablished. If  the  bitterest  enemy  of  the 
United  States  had  sought  to  bring  upon  it 
in  that  quarter  the  greatest  trouble  in  the 
shortest  time,  he  could  have  devised  for  that 
end  no  policy  more  successful  than  the  one 
we  actually  pursued.  There  may  have  been 
controlling  reasons  for  it.  An  opposite 
course  might  perhaps  have  cost  more  else- 
where than  it  saved  in  Luzon.  On  that 
point  the  public  cannot  now  form  even  an 
opinion.  But  as  to  the  effect  in  Luzon  there 
is  no  doubt ;  and  because  of  it  we  have  the 
right  to  ask  a  delay  in  judgment  about  re- 
sults there  until  the  present  evil  can  be  un- 
■  done. 

The  Carnival  MEANTIME,  in  accordance  with  a  well-known 

Objwtionr    ^^^  probably  unchangeable  law  of  human 

nature,  this  is  the  carnival  and  very  heyday 

of  the  objectors.    The  air  is  filled  with  their 

discouragement. 

Some  exclaim  that  Americans  are  incapa- 
ble of  colonizing  or  of  managing  colonies; 
that  there  is  something  in  our  national 
character  or  institutions  that  wholly  dis- 
qualifies us  for  the  work.  Yet  the  most 
successful  colonies  in  the  whole  world  were 
the  thirteen  original  colonies  on  our  Atlan- 
tic coast ;  and  the  most  successful  colonists 


OUR  NEW  DUTIES  147 

were  our  own  grandfathers !  Have  the 
grandsons  so  degenerated  that  they  are  in- 
capable of  colonizing  at  all,  or  of  managing 
colonies  1  Who  says  so  ?  Is  it  any  one  with 
the  glorious  history  of  this  continental  col- 
onization bred  in  his  bone  and  leaping  in  his 
blood  ?  Or  is  it  some  refugee  from  a  foreign 
country  he  was  discontented  with,  who  now 
finds  pleasure  in  disparaging  the  capacity 
of  the  new  country  he  came  to,  while  he  has 
neither  caught  its  spirit  nor  grasped  the 
meaning  of  its  history  1 

Some  bewail  the  alleged  fact  that,  at  any 
rate,  our  system  has  little  adaptability  to  the 
control  of  colonies  or  dependencies.  Has 
our  system  been  found  weaker,  then,  than 
other  forms  of  government,  less  adaptable  to 
emergencies,  and  with  people  less  fit  to  cope 
with  them  ?  Is  the  difficulty  inherent,  or  is 
it  possible  that  the  emergency  may  show,  as 
emergencies  have  shown  before,  that  what- 
ever task  intelligence,  energy,  and  courage 
can  surmount  the  American  people  and 
their  Government  can  rise  to  ? 

It  is  said  the  conditions  in  our  new  pos- 
sessions are  wholly  different  from  any  we 
have  previously  encountered.  This  is  true ; 
and  there  is  little  doubt  the  new  circum- 
stances will  bring  great  modifications  in 
methods.  That  is  an  excellent  reason, 
among  others,  for  some  doubt  at  the  outset 


148       PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

as  to  whether  we  know  all  about  it,  but  not 
for  despairing  of  our  capacity  to  learn.  It 
might  be  remembered  that  we  have  encoun- 
tered some  varieties  of  conditions  already. 
The  work  in  Florida  was  different  from  that 
at  Plymouth  Rock;  Louisiana  and  Texas 
showed  again  new  sets  of  conditions ;  Cali- 
fornia others ;  Puget  Sound  and  Alaska  still 
others;  and  we  did  not  always  have  un- 
broken success  and  plain  sailing  from  the 
outset  in  any  of  them. 

It  is  said  we  cannot  colonize  the  tropics, 
because  our  people  cannot  labor  there.  Per- 
haps not,  especially  if  they  refuse  to  obey 
the  prudent  precautions  which  centuries  of 
experience  have  enjoined  upon  others.  But 
what,  then,  are  we  going  to  do  with  Porto 
Rico  ?  How  soon  are  our  people  going  to 
flee  from  Arizona?  And  why  is  life  im- 
possible to  Americans  in  Manila  and  Cebu 
and  Iloilo,  but  attractive  to  the  throngs  of 
Europeans  who  have  built  up  those  cities  ? 
Can  we  mine  all  over  the  world,  from  South 
Africa  to  the  Klondike,  but  not  in  Palawan  ? 
Can  we  grow  tobacco  in  Cuba,  but  not  in 
Cebu ;  or  rice  in  Louisiana,  but  not  in  Luzon  ? 

An  alarm  is  raised  that  our  laboring 
classes  are  endangered  by  competition  with 
cheap  tropical  labor  or  its  products.  How  I 
The  interpretation  of  the  Constitution  which 
would    permit   that   is   the    interpretation 


OUE  NEW  DUTIES  149 

which  has  been  repudiated  in  an  unbroken 
line  of  decisions  for  over  half  a  century.  Only 
one  possibility  of  danger  to  American  labor 
exists  in  our  new  possessions  —  the  lunacy, 
or  worse,  of  the  dreamers  who  want  to  pre- 
pare for  the  admission  of  some  of  them  as 
States  in  the  American  Union.  Till  then 
we  can  make  any  law  we  like  to  prevent  the 
immigration  of  their  laborers,  and  any  tariff 
we  like  to  regulate  the  admission  of  their 
products. 

It  is  said  we  are  pursuing  a  fine  method 
for  restoring  order,  by  prolonging  the  war 
we  began  for  humanity  in  order  to  force 
liberty  and  justice  on  an  unwilling  people 
at  the  point  of  the  bayonet.  The  sneer  is 
cheap.  How  else  have  these  blessings  been 
generally  diffused  ?  How  often  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  world  has  barbarism  been  re- 
placed by  civilization  without  bloodshed? 
How  were  our  own  liberty  and  justice  es- 
tablished and  diffused  on  this  continent? 
Would  the  process  have  been  less  bloody  if 
a  part  of  our  own  people  had  noisily  taken 
the  side  of  the  English,  the  Mexican,  or  the 
savage,  and  protested  against  "  extreme 
measures  "  ? 

Some  say  a  war  to  extend  freedom  in 
Cuba  or  elsewhere  is  right,  and  therefore  a 
duty ;  but  the  war  in  the  Philippines  now  is 
purely  selfish,  and  therefore  a  crime.     The 


150  PEOBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

premise  is  inaccurate ;  it  is  a  war  we  are  in 
duty  bound  to  wage  at  any  rate  till  order  is 
restored  —  but  let  that  pass.  Suppose  it 
to  be  merely  a  war  in  defense  of  our  own 
just  rights  and  interests.  Since  when  did 
such  a  war  become  wrong  ?  Is  our  national 
motto  to  be,  "  Quixotic  on  the  one  hand, 
Chinese  on  the  other"? 

How  much  better  it  would  have  been,  say 
others,  to  mind  our  own  business !  No  doubt ; 
but  if  we  were  to  begin  crying  over  spilt  milk 
in  that  way,  the  place  to  begin  was  where  the 
milk  was  spilled — in  the  Congress  that  re- 
solved upon  war  with  Spain.  Since  that  con- 
gressional action  we  have  been  minding  what 
it  made  our  own  business  quite  diligently,  and 
an  essential  part  of  our  business  now  is  the 
responsibility  for  our  own  past  acts,  whether 
in  Havana  or  Manila. 

Some  say  that  since  we  began  the  war  for 
humanity,  we  are  disgraced  by  coming  out 
of  it  with  increased  territory.  Then  a  pen- 
alty must  always  be  imposed  upon  a  victo- 
rious nation  for  presuming  to  do  a  good  act. 
The  only  nation  to  be  exempt  from  such  a 
penalty  upon  success  is  to  be  the  nation  that 
was  in  the  wrong !  It  is  to  have  a  premium, 
whether  successful  or  not ;  for  it  is  thus  re- 
lieved, even  in  defeat,  from  the  penalty 
which  modern  practice  in  the  interest  of 
civilization  requires  —  the  payment   of   an 


OUR  NEW  DUTIES  151 

indemnity  for  the  cost  of  an  unjust  war. 
Furthermore,  the  representatives  of  the  na- 
tion that  does  a  good  act  are  thus  bound  to 
reject  any  opportunity  for  lightening  the 
national  load  it  entails.  They  must  leave 
the  full  burden  upon  their  country,  to  be 
dealt  with  in  due  time  by  the  individual 
taxpayer ! 

j^.gain,  we  have  superfine  discussions  of 
what  the  United  States  "stands  for."  It 
does  not  stand,  we  are  told,  for  foreign  con- 
quest, or  for  colonies  or  dependencies,  or 
other  extensions  of  its  power  and  influence. 
It  stands  solely  for  the  development  of  the 
individual  man.  There  is  a  germ  of  a  great 
truth  in  this,  but  the  development  of  the 
truth  is  lost  sight  of.  Individual  initiative 
is  a  good  thing,  and  our  institutions  do  de- 
velop it  —  and  its  consequences !  There  is 
a  species  of  individualism,  too,  about  a  bull- 
dog. When  he  takes  hold  he  holds  on.  It 
may  as  well  be  noticed  by  the  objectors  that 
that  is  a  characteristic  much  appreciated  by 
American  people.  They,  too,  hold  on.  They 
remember,  besides,  a  pregnant  phrase  of  their 
fathers,  who  "ordained  this  Constitution," 
among  other  things,  "  to  promote  the  general 
welfare."  That  is  a  thing  for  which  "this 
Government  stands"  also;  and  woe  to  the 
public  servant  who  rejects  brilliant  oppor- 
tunities to  promote  it  —  on  the  Pacific  Ocean 


152  PROBLEMS   OF  EXPANSION 

no  less  than  the  Atlantic,  by  commerce  no 
less  than  by  agriculture  or  manufactures. 

It  is  said  the  Philippines  are  worthless  — 
have,  in  fact,  already  cost  us  more  than  the 
value  of  their  entire  trade  for  many  years  to 
come.  So  much  the  more,  then,  are  we 
bound  to  do  our  duty  by  them.  But  we 
have  also  heard  in  turn,  and  from  the  same 
quarters,  that  every  one  of  our  previous 
acquisitions  was  worthless. 

Again,  it  is  said  our  continent  is  more 
than  enough  for  all  our  needs,  and  our  ex- 
tensions should  stop  at  the  Pacific.  What 
is  this  but  proposing  such  a  policy  of  self- 
sufficient  isolation  as  we  are  accustomed  to 
reprobate  in  China  —  planning  now  to  de- 
velop only  on  the  soil  on  which  we  stand, 
and  expecting  the  rest  of  the  world  to  pro- 
tect our  trade  if  we  have  any  ?  Can  a  nation 
with  safety  set  such  limits  to  its  develop- 
ment I  When  a  tree  stops  growing,  our  for- 
esters tell  us,  it  is  ripe  for  the  ax.  When  a 
man  stops  in  his  physical  and  intellectual 
growth  he  begins  to  decay.  When  a  busi- 
ness stops  growing  it  is  in  danger  of  decline. 
When  a  nation  stops  growing  it  has  passed 
the  meridian  of  its  course,  and  its  shadows 
fall  eastward. 

Is  China  to  be  our  model,  or  Grreat  Brit- 
ain? Or,  better  still,  are  we  to  follow  the 
instincts  of  our  own  people  ?    The  policy  of 


OUR  NEW  DUTIES  153 

isolating  ourselves  is  a  policy  for  the  refusal 
of  both  duties  and  opportunities  —  duties  to 
foreign  nations  and  to  civilization,  which 
cannot  be  respectably  evaded;  opportuni- 
ties for  the  development  of  our  power  on 
the  Pacific  in  the  Twentieth  Century,  which 
it  would  be  craven  to  abandon.  There  has 
been  a  curious  "about  face,"  an  absolute 
reversal  of  attitude  toward  England,  on  the 
part  of  our  Little  Americans,  especially  at 
the  East  and  among  the  more  educated 
classes.  But  yesterday  nearly  all  of  them 
were  pointing  to  England  as  a  model.  There 
young  men  of  education  and  position  felt  it 
a  duty  to  go  into  politics.  There  they  had 
built  up  a  model  civil  service.  There  their 
cities  were  better  governed,  their  streets 
cleaner,  their  mails  more  promptly  deliv- 
ered. There  the  responsibilities  of  their 
colonial  system  had  enforced  the  purification 
of  domestic  politics,  the  relentless  punish- 
ment of  corrupt  practices,  and  the  abolition 
of  bribery  in  elections,  either  by  money  or 
by  office.  There  they  had  foreign  trade, 
and  a  commercial  marine,  and  a  trained  and 
efficient  foreign  service,  and  to  be  an  Eng- 
lish citizen  was  to  have  a  safeguard  the 
whole  world  round.  Our  young  men  were 
commended  to  their  example ;  our  legislators 
were  exhorted  to  study  their  practice  and 
its  results.     Suddenly  these  same  teachers 


154       PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

turn  around.  They  warn  us  against  the 
infection  of  England's  example.  They  tell 
us  her  colonial  system  is  a  failure  ;  that  she 
would  be  stronger  without  her  colonies  than 
with  them ;  that  she  is  eaten  up  with  "  mili- 
tarism ^ ;  that  to  keep  Cuba  or  the  Philippines 
is  what  a  selfish,  conquering,  land-grabbing, 
aristocratic  government  like  England  would 
do,  and  that  her  policy  and  methods  are 
utterly  incompatible  with  our  institutions. 
When  a  court  thus  reverses  itself  without 
obvious  reason  (except  a  temporary  partizan 
purpose),  our  people  are  apt  to  put  their 
trust  in  other  tribunals. 

The  Future.  "  I  HAD  thought,"  said  Wendell  Phillips,  in 
his  noted  apology  for  standing  for  the  first 
time  in  his  antislavery  Jife  under  the  flag 
of  his  country,  and  welcoming  the  tread  of 
Massachusetts  men  marshaled  for  war  — "  I 
had  thought  Massachusetts  wholly  choked 
with  cotton-dust  and  cankered  with  gold." 
If  Little  Americans  have  thought  so  of  their 
country  in  these  stirring  days,  and  have 
fancied  that  initial  reverses  would  induce 
it  to  abandon  its  duty,  its  rights,  and  its 
great  permanent  interests,  they  will  live  to 
see  their  mistake.  They  will  find  it  giving 
a  deaf  ear  to  these  unworthy  complaints  of 
temporary  trouble  or  present  loss,  and  turn- 
ing  gladly  from   all   this    incoherent    and 


OUR  NEW  DUTIES  155 

resultless  clamor  to  the  new  world  opening 
around  us.  Already  it  draws  us  out  of  our- 
selves. The  provincial  isolation  is  gone; 
and  provincial  habits  of  thought  will  go. 
There  is  a  larger  interest  in  what  other  lands 
have  to  show  and  teach ;  a  larger  confidence 
in  our  own ;  a  higher  resolve  that  it  shall  do 
its  whole  duty  to  mankind,  moral  as  well  as 
material,  international  as  well  as  national, 
in  such  fashion  as  becomes  time's  latest  off- 
spring and  its  greatest.  We  are  grown  more 
nearly  citizens  of  the  world. 

This  new  knowledge,  these  new  duties 
and  interests,  must  have  two  effects  —  they 
must  extend  our  power,  influence,  and  trade, 
and  they  must  elevate  the  public  service. 
Every  returning  soldier  or  traveler  tells  the 
same  story — that  the  very  name  "American  " 
has  taken  a  new  significance  throughout 
the  Orient.  The  shrewd  Oriental  no  longer 
regards  us  as  a  second-  or  third-class  Power. 
He  has  just  seen  the  only  signs  he  rec- 
ognizes of  a  nation  that  knows  its  rights  and 
dare  maintain  them  —  a  nation  that  has 
come  to  stay,  with  an  empire  of  its  own  in 
the  China  Sea,  and  a  Navy  which,  from  what 
he  has  seen,  he  believes  wall  be  able  to  de- 
fend it  against  the  world.  He  straightway 
concludes,  after  the  Oriental  fashion,  that  it 
is  a  nation  whose  citizens  must  henceforth 
be  secure  in  all  their  rights,  whose  mission- 


156       PKOBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION" 

aries  must  be  endured  with  patience  and 
even  protected,  and  whose  friendship  must 
be  sedulously  cultivated.  The  national  pres- 
tige is  enormously  increased,  and  trade  fol- 
lows prestige  —  especially  in  the  farther 
East.  Not  within  a  century,  not  during  our 
whole  history,  has  such  a  field  opened  for 
our  reaping.  Planted  directly  in  front  of 
the  Chinese  colossus,  on  a  gi-eat  territory  of 
om-  own,  we  have  the  first  and  best  chance 
to  profit  by  his  awakening.  Commanding 
both  sides  of  the  Pacific,  and  the  available 
coal-supplies  on  each,  we  command  the 
ocean  that,  according  to  the  old  prediction, 
is  to  bear  the  bulk  of  the  world's  commerce 
in  the  Twentieth  Century.  Our  remote  but 
glorious  land  between  the  Sierras  and  the 
sea  may  then  become  as  busy  a  hive  as 
New  England  itself,  and  the  whole  continent 
must  take  fresh  life  from  the  generous  blood 
of  this  natural  and  necessary  commerce  be- 
tween people  of  different  climates  and  zones. 
But  these  developments  of  power  and 
trade  are  the  least  of  the  advantages  we 
may  hopefully  expect.  The  faults  in  Amer- 
ican character  and  life  which  the  Little 
Americans  tell  us  prove  the  people  unfit  for 
these  duties  are  the  very  faults  that  will  be 
cured  by  them.  The  recklessness  and  heed- 
less self-sufficiency  of  youth  must  disappear. 
Great    responsibilities,   suddenly  devolved. 


OUE  NEW  DUTIES  157 

must  sober  and  elevate  now,  as  they  have 
always  done  in  natures  not  originally  bad, 
throughout  the  whole  history  of  the  world. 

The  new  interests  abroad  must  compel  an 
improved  foreign  service.  It  has  heretofore 
been  worse  than  we  ever  knew,  and  also  bet- 
ter. On  great  occasions  and  in  great  fields 
our  diplomatic  record  ranks  with  the  best  in 
the  world.  No  nation  stands  higher  in  those 
new  contributions  to  International  Law 
which  form  the  high-water  mark  of  civiliza- 
tion from  one  generation  to  another.  At 
the  same  time,  in  fields  less  under  the  public 
eye,  our  foreign  service  has  been  haphazard 
at  the  best,  and  often  bad  beyond  belief  — 
ludicrous  and  humiliating.  The  harm  thus 
wrought  to  our  national  good  name  and  the 
positive  injury  to  our  trade  have  been  more 
than  we  realized.  We  cannot  escape  realiz- 
ing them  now,  and  when  the  American  peo- 
ple wake  up  to  a  wrong  they  are  apt  to 
right  it. 

More  important  still  should  be  the  im- 
provement in  the  general  public  service  at 
home  and  in  our  new  possessions.  New  du- 
ties must  bring  new  methods.  Ward  politics 
were  banished  from  India  and  Egypt  as  the 
price  of  successful  administration,  and  they 
must  be  excluded  from  Porto  Rico  and  Lu- 
zon. The  practical  common  sense  of  the 
American  people  will  soon  see  that  any  other 


158       PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

course  is  disastrous.  Gigantic  business  in- 
terests must  come  to  reinforce  the  theorists 
in  favor  of  a  reform  that  shall  really  elevate 
and  purify  the  Civil  Service. 

Hand  in  hand  with  these  benefits  to  our- 
selves, which  it  is  the  duty  of  public  servants 
to  secure,  go  benefits  to  our  new  wards  and 
benefits  to  mankind.  There,  then,  is  what 
the  United  States  is  to  "  stand  for "  in  all 
the  resplendent  future:  the  rights  and  in- 
terests of  its  own  Government ;  the  general 
welfare  of  its  own  people ;  the  extension  of 
ordered  liberty  in  the  dark  places  of  the 
earth;  the  spread  of  civilization  and  reli- 
gion, and  a  consequent  increase  in  the  sum 
of  human  happiness  in  the  world. 


VIII 

LATER   ASPECTS   OF  OUR   NEW 
DUTIES 


This  address  was  delivered  on  the  invitation  of  the  Board 
of  Trustees,  at  Princeton  University,  in  Alexander  Hall, 
1899. 


LATER  ASPECTS  OF  OUE 
NEW  DUTIES 


THE  invitation  for  to-day  with  which 
Princeton  honored  me  was  accom- 
panied with  the  hint  that  a  discussion  of 
some  phase  of  current  public  affairs  would 
not  be  unwelcome.  That  phase  which  has 
for  the  past  year  or  two  most  absorbed  pub- 
lic attention  is  now  more  absorbing  than 
ever.  Elsewhere  I  have  already  spoken 
upon  it,  more,  perhaps,  than  enough.  But 
I  cannot  better  obey  the  summons  of  this 
honored  and  historic  University,  or  better 
deserve  the  attention  of  this  company  of 
scholars,  gentlemen,  and  patriots,  than  by 
saying  with  absolute  candor  what  its  present 
aspects  prompt. 

And  first,  the  chaos  of  opinion  into  which  Questions 
the  country  was  thrown  by  the  outbreak  of  [eenml= 
the   Spanish- American  War   ceases   to   be  posed  of. 
wholly  without  form  and  void.     The  discus- 
sions of  a  year  have  clarified  ideas ;  and  on 
some  points  we  may  consider  that  the  Ameri- 


11 


161 


162       PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

can  people  have  substantially  reached  defi- 
nite conclusions. 

There  is  no  need,  therefore,  to  debate 
laboriously  before  you  whether  Dewey  was 
right  in  going  to  Manila.  Everybody  now 
realizes  that,  once  war  was  begun,  absolutely 
the  most  efficient  means  of  making  it  speedily 
and  overwhelmingly  victorious,  as  well  as  of 
defending  the  most  exposed  half  of  our  own 
coast,  was  to  go  to  Manila.  "  Find  the  Span- 
ish fleet  and  destroy  it  ^  was  as  wise  an  order 
as  the  President  ever  issued,  and  he  was 
equally  wise  in  choosing  the  man  to  carry 
it  out. 

So,  also,  there  is  no  need  to  debate  whether 
Dewey  was  right  in  staying  there.  From 
that  come  his  most  enduring  laurels.  The 
American  people  admire  him  for  the  battle 
which  sank  the  Spanish  navy;  but  they 
trust  and  love  him  for  the  months  of  trial 
and  triumph  that  followed.  The  Admin- 
istration that  should  have  ordered  him 
to  abandon  the  Eastern  foothold  he  had 
conquered  for  his  country— to  sail  away  like 
a  sated  pirate  from  the  port  where  his  vic- 
tory broke  down  all  civilized  authority  but 
our  own,  and  his  presence  alone  prevented 
domestic  anarchy  and  foreign  spoliation- 
would  have  deserved  to  be  hooted  out  of 
the  capital. 

So,   again,   there  is  no   need   to  debate 


LATEE  ASPECTS  OF  OUE  NEW  DUTIES   163 

whether  the  Peace  Commissioners  should 
have  thrown  away  in  Paris  what  Dewey 
had  won  in  Manila.  The  public  servant 
who,  without  instructions,  should  in  a  gush 
of  irresponsible  sentimentality  abandon 
great  possessions  to  which  his  country  is 
justly  entitled,  whether  by  conquest  or  as 
indemnity  for  unjust  war,  would  be  not 
only  an  unprofitable  but  a  faithless  ser- 
vant. It  was  their  obvious  duty  to  hold 
what  Dewey  had  won,  at  least  till  the 
American  people  had  time  to  consider  and 
decide  otherwise. 

Is  there  any  need  to  debate  whether  the 
American  people  will  abandon  it  now? 
Those  who  have  a  fancy  for  that  species  of 
dialectics  may  weigh  the  chances,  and  evolve 
from  circumstances  of  their  own  imagina- 
tion, and  canons  of  national  and  international 
obligation  of  their  own  manufacture,  con- 
clusions to  their  own  liking.  I  need  not 
consume  much  of  your  time  in  that  unprof- 
itable pursuit.  We  may  as  well,  here  and 
now,  keep  our  feet  on  solid  ground,  and  deal 
with  facts  as  they  are.  The  American  people 
are  in  lawful  possession  of  the  Philippines, 
with  the  assent  of  all  Christendom,  with  a 
title  as  indisputable  as  the  title  to  California ; 
and,  though  the  debate  will  linger  for  a 
while,  and  perhaps  drift  unhappily  into 
partizan  contention,  the  generation  is  yet  un- 


164       PKOBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

born  that  will  see  them  abandoned  to  the  pos- 
session of  any  other  Power.  The  Nation  that 
scatters  principalities  as  a  prodigal  does  his 
inheritance  is  too  sentimental  and  moon- 
shiny  for  the  Nineteenth  Century  or  the  Twen- 
tieth, and  too  unpractical  for  Americans  of 
any  period.  It  may  flourish  in  Arcadia  or 
Altruria,  but  it  does  not  among  the  sons  of 
the  Pilgrims,  or  on  the  continent  they  sub- 
dued by  stern  struggle  to  the  uses  of  civili- 
zation. 

Nevertheless,  our  people  did  stop  to  con- 
sider very  carefully  their  constitutional 
powers.  I  believe  we  have  reached  a  point 
also  where  the  result  of  that  consideration 
may  be  safely  assumed.  The  constitutional 
arguments  have  been  fully  presented  and 
the  expositions  and  decisions  marshaled.  It 
is  enough  now  to  say  that  the  preponderance 
of  constitutional  authorities,  with  Gouver- 
neur  Morris,  Daniel  Webster,  and  Thomas  H. 
Benton  at  their  head,  and  the  unbroken  ten- 
dency of  decisions  by  the  courts  of  the  United 
States  for  at  least  the  last  fifty  years,  from 
Mr.  Chief  Justice  Waite  and  Mr.  Justice 
Miller  and  Mr.  Justice  Stanley  Matthews,  of 
the  Supreme  Court,  down  to  the  very  latest 
utterance  on  the  subject,  that  of  Mr.  Justice 
Morrow  of  the  Circuit  Court  of  Appeals, 
sustain  the  power  to  acquire  "territory  or 
other  property  "  anywhere,  and  govern  it  as 


LATEK  ASPECTS   OF   OUR   NEW  DUTIES    165 

we  please.^  Inhabitants  of  such  territory 
(not  obviously  incapable)  are  secure  in  the 
civil  rights  guaranteed  by  the  Constitution ; 
but  they  have  no  political  rights  under  it, 
save  as  Congress  confers  them.  The  evi- 
dence in  support  of  this  view  has  been  fully 
set  forth,  examined,  and  weighed,  and,  un- 
less I  greatly  mistake,  a  popular  decision  on 
the  subject  has  been  reached.  The  consti- 
tutional power  is  no  longer  seriously  dis- 
puted, and  even  those  who  raised  the  doubt 
do  not  seem  now  to  rely  upon  it. 

In   thus   summarizing  what   has   been  al-  Contributions 
ready  settled  or  disposed  of  in  our  dealings  {U,„"f["^ 
with  the  questions  of  the  war,  I  may  be  per-  and  Morality, 
mitted  to  pause  for  a  moment  on  the  Ameri- 
can contributions  it  brought  about  to  inter- 
national morality  and  law.     On  the  day  on 
which  the  American  Peace  Commissioners 
to  Paris  sailed  for  home  after  the  ceremonial 
courtesy  with  which  their  labors  were  con- 
cluded, the  most  authoritative  journal  in  the 
world  published  an  interview  with  the  emi- 
nent President  of  the  corresponding  Spanish 
Commission,  then  and  for  some  time  after- 
ward President  also  of  the  Spanish  Senate, 

1  Some  of  these  authorities  suit  a  few  additional  ones, 

have  already  been  briefly  pre-  covering    the    main    points 

sented  in  the  address  at  Mi-  that    have    been    disputed, 

ami  University,  pp.  107-158.  They  are  grouped  for  conve- 

It  may  be  desirable  to  con-  nience  in  the  Appendix. 


166       PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

in  which  he  was  reported  as  saying :  "  We 
knew  in  advance  that  we  should  have  to  deal 
with  an  implacable  conqueror,  who  would 
in  no  way  concern  himself  with  any  pre- 
existing International  Law,  but  whose  sole 
object  was  to  reap  from  victory  the  largest 
possible  advantage.  This  conception  of  In- 
ternational Law  is  absolutely  new ;  it  is  no 
longer  a  case  of  might  against  right,  but  of 
might  without  right.  .  .  .  The  Americans 
have  acted  as  vainqueurs  parvenus."  ^ 

Much  may  be  pardoned  to  the  anguish  of 
an  old  and  trusted  public  servant  over  the 
misfortunes  of  his  native  land.  We  may 
even,  in  our  sympathy,  endeavor  to  forget 
what  country  it  was  that  proposed  to  defy 
the  agreements  of  the  Conference  of  Paris  and 
the  general  judgment  of  nations  by  resorting 
to  privateering,  or  what  country  it  was  that 
prefeiTed  to  risk  becoming  an  asylum  for  the 
criminals  of  a  continent  rather  than  revive, 
even  temporarily,  that  basic  and  elementary 
implement  of  modern  international  justice, 
an  extradition  treaty,  which  had  been  in 
force  with  acceptable  results  for  over  twenty 
years.  But  when  Americans  are  stigmatized 
as  "  vainqueurs  parvenus,"  who  by  virtue  of 
mere  strength  violate  International  Law 
against  a  prostrate  foe,  and  when  one  of 
the  ablest  of  their  American  critics  encour- 

1  London  ''Times,"  December  17,  1898. 


LATER  ASPECTS  OF  OUE  NEW  DUTIES    167 

ages  the  Spanish  contention  by  talking  of 
our  "bulldog  diplomacy  at  Paris,"  it  gives 
us  occasion  to  challenge  the  approval  of  the 
world— as  the  facts  amply  warrant— for  the 
scrupulous  conformity  to  existing  Interna- 
tional Law,  and  the  important  contributions 
to  its  beneficent  advancement  that  have  dis- 
tinguished the  action  of  the  United  States 
throughout  these  whole  transactions.  Hav- 
ing already  set  these  forth  in  some  detail 
before  a  foreign  audience,^  I  must  not  now 
do  more  than  offer  the  briefest  summary. 

The  United  States  ended  the  toleration  of 
Privateering.  It  was  perfectly  free  to  com- 
mission privateers  on  the  day  war  was  de- 
clared. Spain  was  equally  free,  and  it  was 
proclaimed  from  Madrid  that  the  Atlantic 
would  soon  swarm  with  them,  sweeping 
American  commerce  from  the  ocean.  Under 
these  circumstances  one  of  the  very  first  and 
noblest  acts  of  the  President  was  to  an- 
nounce that  the  United  States  would  not 
avail  itself  of  the  right  to  send  out  priva- 
teers, reserved  under  the  Declaration  of 
Paris.  The  fast- thickening  disasters  of 
Spain  prevented  her  from  doing  it,  and  thus 
substantially  completed  the  practice  or  ac- 
quiescence of  the  civilized  world,  essential 
to  the  acceptance  of  a  principle  in  Interna- 
tional Law.     It  is  safe  to  assume  that  Chris- 

1  See  (pp.  70-105)  article  from  "  The  Anglo-Saxon  Review." 


168       PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

tendom  will  henceforth  treat  Privateering 
as  under  international  ban. 

The  United  States  promoted  the  cause 
of  genuine  International  Arbitration  by 
promptly  and  emphatically  rejecting  an  in- 
sidious proposal  for  a  spurious  one.  It 
taught  those  who  deliberately  prefer  War  to 
Arbitration,  and,  when  beaten  at  it,  seek 
then  to  get  the  benefit  of  a  second  remedy, 
that  honest  Arbitration  must  come  before 
War,  to  avert  its  horrors,  not  after  War,  to 
evade  its  penalties. 

The  United  States  promoted  peace  among 
nations,  and  so  served  humanity,  by  sternly 
enforcing  the  rule  that  they  who  bring 
on  an  unjust  war  must  pay  for  it.  For 
years  the  overwhelming  tendency  of  its 
people  had  been  against  any  territorial  ag- 
grandizement, even  a  peaceful  one ;  but  it 
unflinchingly  exacted  the  easiest,  if  not  the 
only,  payment  Spain  could  make  for  a  war 
that  cost  us,  at  the  lowest,  from  four  to  five 
hundred  million  dollars,  by  taking  Porto 
Rico,  Guam,  and  the  Philippines.  It  re- 
quires some  courage  to  describe  this  as 
either  a  violation  of  International  Law,  or  a 
display  of  unprecedented  severity  by  an  im- 
placable conqueror,  in  the  very  city  and 
before  the  very  generation  that  saw  the 
Franco-Prussian  War  concluded,  not  merely 
by  a  partition  of  territory,  but  also  by  a 


LATER  ASPECTS   OF   OUE  NEW  DUTIES    169 

cash  payment   of  a  thousand   millions  in- 
demnity. 

The  United  States  promoted  the  peaceful 
liberalizing  of  oppressive  rule  over  all  sub- 
ject peoples  by  making  it  more  difficult  to 
negotiate  loans  in  the  markets  of  the  world 
to  subdue  their  outbreaks.  For  it  firmly 
rejected  in  the  Cuban  adjustments  the  im- 
moral doctrine  that  an  ill-treated  and  revolt- 
ing colony,  after  gaining  its  freedom,  must 
still  submit  to  the  extortion  from  it  of  the 
cost  of  the  parent  country's  unsuccessful 
efforts  to  subdue  it.  We  therefore  left  the 
so-called  Cuban  bonds  on  the  hands  of  the 
Power  that  issued  them,  or  of  the  reckless 
lenders  who  advanced  the  money.  At  the 
same  time  the  United  States  strained  a  point 
elsewhere  in  the  direction  of  protecting  any 
legitimate  debt,  and  of  dealing  generously 
with  a  fallen  foe,  by  a  payment  which  the 
most  carping  critic  will  some  day  be  ashamed 
to  describe  as  "buying  the  inhabitants  of 
the  Philippines  at  two  dollars  a  head."  ^ 

1  There  has  been  so  much  was  sunk ;  her  army  was 
misconception  and  misrepre-  cooped  up  in  the  capital,  un- 
sentation  about  this  payment  der  the  guns  of  the  American 
of  twenty  millions  that  the  fleet,  and  its  capture  or  sur- 
following  exact  summary  of  render  had  only  been  delayed 
the  facts  may  be  convenient,  till  the  arrival  of  reinforce- 
When  Spain  sued  for  peace  ments  for  the  American  Army, 
in  the  summer  of  1898,  she  because  of  the  fears  ex- 
had  lost  control  of  the  Philip-  pressed  by  foreigners  and 
pines,  and  any  means  for  re-  the  principal  residents  of 
gaining    control.     Her    fleet  Manila  that  the  city  might 


170       PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

All  these  are  acts  distinctly  in  accord  with 
International  Law  so  far  as  it  exists  and  ap- 
plies, and  distinctly  tending  to  promote  its 
humane  and  Christian  extension.  Let  me 
add,  in  a  word,  that  the  peace  negotiations  in 
no  way  compromised  or  affected  the  Monroe 
Doctrine,  which  stands  as  firm  as  ever, 
though  much  less  important  with  the  disap- 
pearance of  any  probable  opposition  to  it; 
and  that  the  prestige  they  brought  smoothed 
the  way  for  the  one  hopeful  result  of  the 
Czar's  Conference  at  The  Hague,  a  response 
to  the  American  proposal  for  a  permanent 
International  Court  of  Arbitration. 

A  trifling  but  characteristic  inaccuracy 
concerning  the  Peace  Commission  may  as 
well  be  corrected  before  the  subject  is  left. 

be  looted  by  natives  unless  further    indemnity   for    the 

American  land  forces  were  at  war. 

hand  in   strength   ample   to       When  the  treaty  came  to 

control  them.     The  Spanish  be    negotiated,  the    United 

army  did    so    surrender,  in  States  required  the  cession 

fact,  shortly  after  the  arrival  of  the  Philippines.    Its  Peace 

of  these  reinforcements,  be-  Commissioners    stated    that 

fore  the  news  of  the  armistice  their  Government  "felt  amply 

could  reach  them.  supported  in  its  right  to  de- 

In  the  protocol  granting  an  mand  this  cession,  with  or 

armistice,  the  United  States  without  concessions,"  added 

exacted  at  once  the  cession  that  "this  demand  might  be 

of  Porto  Rico  and  an  island  limited  to  the  single  ground 

in  the  Ladrones,  but  reserved  of  indemnity,"  and  pointed 

the  decision  as  to  the  con-  out  that  it  was    "not  now 

trol,  disposition,  and  govern-  putting  forward  any  claim  for 

ment  of  the  Philippines  for  pecuniary  indemnity,  to  cover 

the  treaty  of  peace,  apparent-  the    enormous    cost    of    the 

ly  with  a  view  to  the  possi-  war."    It  accompanied  this 

bility  of  accepting  them  as  demand   for    a   transfer   of 


LATEK  ASPECTS   OF  OUE  NEW  DUTIES   171 

This  is  the  statement,  apparently  originating 
from  Malay  sources,  but  promptly  indorsed 
in  this  country  by  unfriendly  critics,  to  the 
effect  that  the  representative  of  Aguinaldo 
was  uncivilly  refused  a  hearing  in  Paris.  It 
was  repeated,  inadvertently,  no  doubt,  with 
many  other  curious  distortions  of  historic 
facts,  only  the  other  day,  by  a  distinguished 
statesman  in  Chicago.^  As  he  put  it,  the 
doors  were  slammed  in  their  faces  in  Wash- 
ington as  well  as  in  Paris.  Now,  whatever 
might  have  happened,  the  door  was  certainly 
never  slammed  in  their  faces  in  Paris,  for 
they  never  came  to  it.  On  the  contrary, 
every  time  Mr.  Agoncillo  approached  any 
member  of  the  Commission  on  the  subject, 


sovereignty  with  a  stipula-  presented  "a  new  proposi- 
tion for  assuming  any  exist-  tion,  embodying  the  conces- 
ing  indebtedness  of  Spain  sions  which,  for  the  sake  of 
incurred  for  public  works  immediate  peace,  their  Gov- 
and  improvements  of  a  pa-  ernment  is,  under  the  circum- 
eific  character  in  the  Philip-  stances,  willing  to  tender." 
pines.  The  United  States  But  it  was  really  the  old 
thus  asserted  its  right  to  the  proposition  (with  the  "Open 
archipelago  for  indemnity,  Door"  and  "Mutual  Relin- 
and  at  the  same  time  com-  quishment  of  Claims  "  clauses 
mitted  itself  to  the  principle  added),  with  the  mention  for 
of  payment  on  account  of  the  the  first  time  of  a  specific  sum 
Philippine  debt.  for  the  payment,  and  without 
When  it  became  necessary  any  question  of  "  pacific  im- 
to  put  the  Philippine  case  provements."  That  sum  just 
into  an  ultimatum,  the  Peace  balanced  the  Philippine  debt 
Commissioners  did  not  fur-  —40, 000, 000  Mexican,  or,  say, 
ther  refer  to  the  debt  or  give  20,000,000  American  dollars, 
any  specific  reason  either  for  i  General  Carl  Schurz,  at 
a  cession  or  for  a  payment,  the  Chicago  Anti-Expansion 
They  simply  said  they  now  Convention,  October,  1899, 


172       PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

he  was  courteously  invited  to  send  the  Com- 
missioners a  written  request  for  a  hearing, 
which  would,  at  any  rate,  receive  immediate 
consideration.  No  such  request  ever  came, 
and  any  Filipino  who  wrote  for  a  hearing  in 
Paris  was  heard. 

The  Meanwhile  we  are  now  in  the  midst  of 
Jj5y^"*  hostilities  with  a  part  of  the  native  popula- 
tion, originating  in  an  unprovoked  attack 
upon  our  troops  in  the  city  they  had  wrested 
from  the  Spaniards,  before  final  action  on 
the  treaty.  It  is  easy  to  say  that  we  ought 
not  to  have  got  into  this  conflict,  and  to  that 
I  might  agree.  "  I  tell  you,  they  can't  put 
you  in  jail  on  that  charge,"  said  the  learned 
and  disputatious  counsel  to  the  client  who 
had  appealed  from  his  cell  for  help.  "But 
I  a7)i  in,"  was  the  sufficient  answer.  The 
question  just  then  was  not  what  might  have 
been  done,  but  what  can  be  done.  I  wish  to 
urge  that  we  can  only  end  this  conflict  by 
manfully  fighting  through  it.  The  talk  one 
hears  that  the  present  situation  calls  for 
"diplomacy"  seems  to  be  mistimed.  That 
species  of  diplomacy  which  consists  in  the 
tact  of  prompt  action  in  the  right  line  at  the 
right  time  might,  quite  possibly,  have  pre- 
vented the  present  hostilities.  Any  diplo- 
macy now  would  seem  to  our  Tagal  an- 
tagonists the  raising  of  the  white  flag— 


LATEK  ASPECTS  OF  OtJB  NEW  DUTIES    173 

the  final  proof  that  the  American  people  do 
not  sustain  their  Army  in  the  face  of  unpro- 
voked attack.  Every  witness  who  came 
before  the  American  Peace  Commission  in 
Paris,  or  sent  it  a  written  statement,  English, 
G-erman,  Belgian,  Malay,  or  American,  said 
the  same  thing.  Absolutely  the  one  essen- 
tial for  dealing  with  the  Filipinos  was  to 
convince  them  at  the  very  outset  that  what 
you  began  you  stood  to;  that  you  did  not 
begin  without  consideration  of  right  and 
duty,  or  quail  then  before  opposition;  that 
your  purpose  was  inexorable  and  your  power 
irresistible,  while  submission  to  it  would 
always  insure  justice.  On  the  contrary, 
once  let  them  suspect  that  protests  would 
dissuade  and  turbulence  deter  you,  and  all 
the  Oriental  instinct  for  delay  and  bargain- 
ing for  better  terms  is  aroused,  along  with 
the  special  Malay  genius  for  intrigue  and 
double-dealing,  their  profound  belief  that 
every  man  has  his  price,  and  their  childish 
ignorance  as  to  the  extent  to  which  stump 
speeches  here  against  any  Administration 
can  cause  American  armies  beyond  the  seas 
to  retreat. 

No ;  the  toast  which  Henry  Clay  once  gave 
in  honor  of  an  early  naval  hero  fits  the  pres- 
ent situation  like  a  glove.  He  proposed 
"  the  policy  which  looks  to  peace  as  the  end 
of  war,  and  war  as  the  means  of  peace."    In 


174       PEOBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

that  light  I  maintain  that  the  conflict  we  are 
prosecuting  is  in  the  line  of  national  neces- 
sity and  duty;  that  we  cannot  turn  back; 
that  the  truest  humanity  condemns  needless 
delay  or  half-hearted  action,  and  demands 
overwhelming  forces  and  irresistible  onset. 

Eliminate  BuT  in  considering  this  duty,  just  as  in 
ofSouraee-  estimating  the  Treaty  of  Paris,  we  have  the 
ments.  right  to  eliminate  all  account  of  the  trifling 
success,  so  far,  in  the  Philippines,  or  of  the 
great  trouble  and  cost.  What  it  was  right 
to  do  there,  and  what  we  are  bound  to  do 
now,  must  not  be  obscured  by  faults  of  hesi- 
tation or  insufficient  preparation,  for  which 
neither  the  Peace  Commissioners  nor  the 
people  are  responsible.  I  had  occasion  to 
say  before  a  college  audience  last  June  what 
I  now  repeat  with  the  additional  emphasis 
subsequent  events  have  warranted— that  the 
difficulties  which  at  present  discourage  us 
are  largely  of  our  own  making ;  and  I  repeat 
that  it  is  still  not  for  us,  here  and  now,  to  ap- 
portion the  blame.  We  have  not  the  know- 
ledge to  say  just  who,  or  whether  any  man  or 
body,  is  wholly  at  fault.  What  we  do  know 
is  that  the  course  of  hesitation  and  inaction 
which  the  Nation  pursued  in  face  of  an  openly 
maturing  attack  was  precisely  the  policy 
sure  to  give  us  the  greatest  trouble,  and  that 
we  are  now  paying  the  penalty.     If  the  op- 


LATEE  ASPECTS   OF  OUR  NEW  DUTIES    175 

posite  course  had  been  taken  at  the  outset— 
unless  all  the  testimony  from  foreign  ob- 
servers and  from  our  own  officers  is  at  fault- 
there  would  have  been  either  no  outbreak  at 
all,  or  only  one  easily  controlled  and  settled 
to  the  general  satisfaction  of  most  of  the 
civilized  and  semi- civilized  inhabitants  of 
the  island. 

On  the  personal  and  partizan  disputes  al- 
ready lamentably  begun,  as  to  senatorial 
responsibility,  congressional  responsibility, 
or  the  responsibility  of  this  or  that  execu- 
tive officer,  we  have  no  occasion  here  to 
enter.  What  we  have  a  right  to  insist  on  is 
that  our  general  policy  in  the  Philippines 
shall  not  be  shaped  now  merely  by  the  just 
discontent  with  the  bad  start.  The  reports 
of  continual  victories,  that  roll  back  on  us 
every  week,  like  the  stone  of  Sisyphus,  and 
need  to  be  won  over  again  next  week,  the 
mistakes  of  a  censorship  that  was  absolutely 
right  as  a  military  measure,  but  may  have 
been  unintelligently,  not  to  say  childishly, 
conducted— all  these  are  beside  the  real 
question.  They  must  not  obscure  the  duty 
of  restoring  order  in  the  regions  where  our 
troops  have  been  assailed,  or  prejudice  our 
subsequent  course. 

I  VENTURE  to  say  of  that  course  that  neither 
our  duty  nor  our  interest  will  permit  us  to 


176       PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

Pacification  stop  short  of  a  pacification  which  can  only 
cSSrse  o/**  end  in  the  establishment  of  such  local  self- 
Organiza-  government  as  the  people  are  found  capable 
^'®"*  of  conducting,  and  its  extension  just  as  far 

and  as  fast  as  the  people  prove  fit  for  it. 

The  natural  development  thus  to  be  ex- 
pected would  probably  proceed  safely,  along 
the  lines  of  least  resistance,  about  in  this 
order :  First,  and  till  entirely  clear  that  it  is 
no  longer  needed.  Military  Government. 
Next,  the  rule  of  either  Military  or  Civil 
Governors  (for  a  considerable  time  probably 
the  former),  relying  gradually  more  and  more 
on  native  agencies.  Thirdly,  the  develop- 
ment of  Dependencies,  with  an  American 
Civil  Governor,  with  their  foreign  relations 
and  their  highest  courts  controlled  by  us, 
and  their  financial  system  largely  managed 
by  members  of  a  rigidly  organized  and  jeal- 
ously protected  American  Civil  Service,  but 
in  most  other  respects  steadily  becoming 
more  self-governing.  And,  finally,  autono- 
mous governments,  looking  to  us  for  little 
save  control  of  their  foreign  relations,  prof- 
iting by  the  stability  and  order  the  backing 
of  a  powerful  nation  guarantees,  cultivating 
more  and  more  intimate  trade  and  personal 
relations  with  that  nation,  and  coming  to 
feel  themselves  participants  of  its  fortunes 
and  renown. 

Such  a  course  Congress,  after  full  investi- 


LATEB  ASPECTS  OF  OUB  NEW  DUTIES    177 

gation  and  deliberation,  might  perhaps 
wisely  formulate.  Such  a  course,  with 
slight  modifications  to  meet  existing  limita- 
tions as  to  his  powers,  has  already  been 
entered  upon  by  the  President,  and  can 
doubtless  be  carried  on  indefinitely  by  him 
until  Congress  acts.  This  action  should 
certainly  not  be  precipitate.  The  system 
demands  most  careful  study,  not  only  in  the 
light  of  what  the  English  and  Dutch,  the 
most  successful  holders  of  tropical  countries, 
have  done,  but  also  in  the  light  of  the  pecu- 
liar and  varied  circumstances  that  confront 
us  on  these  different  and  distant  islands,  and 
among  these  widely  differing  races— circum- 
stances to  which  no  previous  experience  ex- 
actly applies,  and  for  which  no  uniform 
system  could  be  applicable.  If  Congress 
should  take  as  long  a  time  before  action  to 
study  the  problem  as  it  has  taken  in  the 
Sandwich  Islands,  or  even  in  Alaska,  the 
President's  power  would  still  be  equal  to 
the  emergency,  and  the  policy,  while  flex- 
ible, could  still  be  made  as  continuous,  cohe- 
rent, and  practical  as  his  best  information 
and  ability  would  permit. 

Against  such  a  conscientious  and  pains-  Evasions  of 
taking  course  in   dealing  with   the  grave  *^"*y* 
responsibilities  that  are  upon  us  in  the  East, 
two  lines  of  evasion  are  sure  to  threaten. 

12 


178       PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

The  one  is  the  policy  of  the  upright  but 
short-sighted  and  strictly  continental  patriot 
—the  same  which  an  illustrious  statesman  of 
another  country  followed  in  the  Sudan: 
"  Scuttle  as  quick  as  you  can." 

The  other  is  the  policy  of  the  exuberant 
patriot  who  believes  in  the  universal  adapta- 
bility and  immediate  extension  of  American 
institutions.  He  thinks  all  men  everywhere 
as  fit  to  vote  as  himself,  and  wants  them  for 
partners.  He  is  eager  to  have  them  prepare 
at  once,  in  our  new  possessions,  first  in  the 
West  Indies,  then  in  the  East,  to  send  Sena- 
tors and  Eepresentatives  to  Congress,  and  his 
policy  is:  "Make  Territories  of  them  now, 
and  States  in  the  American  Union  as  soon  as 
possible."  I  wish  to  speak  with  the  utmost 
respect  of  the  sincere  advocates  of  both 
theories,  but  must  say  that  the  one  seems  to 
me  to  fall  short  of  a  proper  regard  for  either 
our  duty  or  our  interest,  and  the  other  to  be 
national  suicide. 

Gentlemen  in  whose  ability  and  patriotism 
we  all  have  confidence  have  lately  put  the 
first  of  these  policies  for  evading  our  duty 
in  the  form  of  a  protest  "against  the  ex- 
pansion and  establishment  of  the  dominion 
of  the  United  States,  by  conquest  or  other- 
wise, over  unwilling  peoples  in  any  part  of 
the  globe."  Of  this  it  may  be  said,  first,  that 
any   application  of   it   to   the   Philippines 


LATEE  ASPECTS   OF  OUR  NEW  DUTIES   179 

probably  assumes  a  factional  and  temporary- 
outbreak  to  represent  a  settled  unwilling- 
ness. New  Orleans  was  as  "unwilling," 
when  Mr.  eJefferson  annexed  it,  as  Aguinaldo 
has  made  Manila ;  and  Aaron  Burr  came  near 
making  the  whole  Louisiana  Territory  far 
worse.  Mr.  Lincoln,  you  remember,  always 
believed  the  people  of  North  Carolina  not 
unwilling  to  remain  in  the  Union,  yet  we 
know  what  they  did.  But  next,  this  protest 
contemplates  evading  the  present  responsi- 
bility by  a  reversal  of  our  settled  policy  any 
way.  Mr.  Lincoln  probably  never  doubted 
the  unwillingness  of  South  Carolina  to  re- 
main in  the  Union,  but  that  did  not  change 
his  course.  Mr.  Seward  never  inquired 
whether  the  Alaskans  were  unwilling  or 
not.  The  historic  position  of  the  United 
States,  from  the  day  when  Jefferson  braved 
the  envenomed  anti-expansion  sentiment  of 
his  time  and  bought  the  territory  west  of  the 
Mississippi,  on  down,  has  been  to  consider, 
not  the  willingness  or  unwillingness  of  any 
inhabitants,  whether  aboriginal  or  colonists, 
but  solely  our  national  opportunity,  our  own 
duty,  and  our  own  interests. 

Is  it  said  that  this  is  Imperialism  ?  That 
implies  usurpation  of  power,  and  there  is 
absolutely  no  ground  for  such  a  charge 
against  this  Administration  at  any  one  stage 
in  these  whole  transactions.    If  any  com- 


180  PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

plaint  here  is  to  lie,  it  must  relate  to  the 
critical  period  when  we  were  accepting  re- 
sponsibility for  order  at  Manila,  and  must  be 
for  the  exercise  of  too  little  power,  not  too 
mucho  It  is  not  Imperialism  to  take  up 
honestly  the  responsibility  for  order  we  in- 
curred before  the  world,  and  continue  under 
it,  even  if  that  should  lead  us  to  extend  the 
civil  rights  of  the  American  Constitution 
over  new  regions  and  strange  peoples.  It 
is  not  Imperialism  when  duty  keeps  us  among 
these  chaotic,  warring,  distracted  tribes,  civi- 
lized, semi-civilized,  and  barbarous,  to  help 
them,  as  far  as  their  several  capacities  will 
permit,  toward  self-government,  on  the 
basis  of  those  civil  rights. 

A  terser  and  more  taking  statement  of 
opposition  has  been  recently  attributed  to 
a  gentleman  highly  honored  by  this  Univer- 
sity and  by  his  townsmen  here.  I  gladly 
seize  this  opportunity,  as  a  consistent  op- 
ponent during  his  whole  political  life,  to  add 
that  his  words  carry  gi^eat  weight  throughout 
the  country  by  reason  of  the  unquestioned 
ability,  courage,  and  patriotic  devotion  he 
has  brought  to  the  public  service.  He  is 
reported  as  protesting  simply  against  "the 
use  of  power  in  the  extension  of  American 
institutions."  But  does  not  this,  if  applied 
to  the  present  situation,  seem  also  to  miss 
an  important  distinction  I    What  planted  us 


LATER  ASPECTS   OF  OUR  NEW  DUTIES   181 

in  the  Philippines  was  the  use  of  our  power 
in  the  most  efficient  naval  and  military  de- 
fense then  available  for  our  own  institutions 
where  they  already  exist,  against  the  attack 
of  Spain.  If  the  responsibility  entailed  by 
the  result  of  these  acts  in  our  own  defense 
does  involve  some  extension  of  our  institu- 
tions, shall  we  therefore  run  away  from  it? 
If  a  guaranty  to  chaotic  tribes  of  the  civil 
rights  secured  by  the  American  Constitution 
does  prove  to  be  an  incident  springing  from 
the  discharge  of  the  duty  that  has  rested 
upon  us  from  the  moment  we  drove  Spain 
out,  is  that  a  result  so  objectionable  as  to 
warrant  us  in  abandoning  our  duty  ? 

There  is,  it  is  true,  one  other  alternative 
—-the  one  which  Aguinaldo  himself  is  said 
to  have  suggested,  and  which  has  certainly 
been  put  forth  in  his  behalf  with  the  utmost 
simplicity  and  sincerity  by  a  conspicuous 
statesman  at  Chicago.  We  might  at  once 
solicit  peace  from  Aguinaldo.  We  might 
then  encourage  him  to  extend  his  rule  over 
the  whole  country,— Catholic,  pagan,  and  Mo- 
hammedan, willing  and  unwilling  alike,— and 
promise  him  whatever  aid  might  be  neces- 
sary for  that  task.  Meantime,  we  should 
undertake  to  protect  him  against  outside 
interference  from  any  European  or  Asiatic 
nation  whose  interests  on  that  oceanic  high- 
way and  in  those  commercial  capitals  might 


182       PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

be  imperiled !  ^  I  do  not  desire  to  discuss 
that  proposition.  And  I  submit  to  candid 
men  that  there  are  just  those  three  courses, 
and  no  more,  now  open  to  us— to  run  away, 
to  protect  Aguinaldo,  or  to  back  up  our  own 
army  and  firmly  hold  on ! 

Objections  to  If  this  fact  be  clearly  perceived,  if  the  choice 
'^"*^*  between  these  three  courses  be  once  recog- 

nized as  the  only  choice  the  present  situation 
permits,  our  minds  will  be  less  disturbed  by 
the  confused  cries  of  perplexity  and  discon- 
tent that  still  fill  the  air.  Thus  men  often 
say,  "  If  you  believe  in  liberty  for  yourself, 
why  refuse  it  to  the  Tagals  !  "  That  is  right ; 
they  should  have,  in  the  degree  of  their  ca- 
pacity, the  only  kind  of  liberty  worth  having 
in  the  world,  the  only  kind  that  is  not  a 
curse  to  its  possessors  and  to  all  in  contact 
with  them— ordered  liberty,  under  law,  for 
which  the  wisdom  of  man  has  not  yet  found 
a  better  safeguard  than  the  guaranties  of 
civil  rights  in  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States.  Who  supposes  that  to  be  the  liberty 
for  which  Aguinaldo  is  fighting  !  What  his 
people  want,  and  what  the  statesman  at 
Chicago  wishes  us  to  use  the  Army  and  Navy 
of  the  United  States  to  help  him  get,  is  the 

1  The    exact    proposition   Anti-Expansion  Convention, 
made  by  General  Carl  Sehnrz    October  17,  1899. 
in  addressing    the    Chicago 


LATER  ASPECTS  OF  OUR  NEW  DUTIES    183 

liberty  to  rule  others— the  liberty  first  to 
turn  our  own  troops  out  of  the  city  and  har- 
bor we  had  in  our  own  self-defense  captured 
from  their  enemies ;  the  liberty  next  to  rule 
that  great  commercial  city,  and  the  tribes  of 
the  interior,  instead  of  leaving  us  to  exercise 
the  rule  over  them  that  events  have  forced 
upon  us,  till  it  is  fairly  shown  that  they  can 
rule  themselves. 

Again  it  is  said,  "  You  are  depriving  them 
of  freedom."  But  they  never  had  freedom, 
and  could  not  have  it  now.  Even  if  they 
could  subdue  the  other  tribes  in  Luzon,  they 
could  not  establish  such  order  on  the  other 
islands  and  in  the  waters  of  the  archipelago 
as  to  deprive  foreign  Powers  of  an  immedi- 
ate excuse  for  interference.  What  we  are 
doing  is  in  the  double  line  of  preventing 
otherwise  inevitable  foreign  seizure  and  put- 
ting a  stop  to  domestic  war. 

"But  you  cannot  fit  people  for  freedom. 
They  must  fit  themselves,  just  as  we  must 
do  our  own  crawling  and  stumbling  in  order 
to  learn  to  walk."  The  illustration  is  un- 
fortunate. Must  the  crawling  baby,  then, 
be  abandoned  by  its  natural  or  accidental 
guardian,  and  left  to  itself  to  grow  strong 
by  struggling,  or  to  perish,  as  may  happen  ? 
Must  we  turn  the  Tagals  loose  on  the  for- 
eigners in  Manila,  and  on  their  enemies  in 
the  other  tribes,  that  by  following  their  in- 


184       PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

stincts  they  may  fit  themselves  for  free- 
dom? 

Again,  "It  will  injure  us  to  exert  power 
over  an  unwilling  people,  just  as  slavery  in- 
jured the  slaveholders  themselves."  Then  a 
community  is  injured  by  maintaining  a 
police.  Then  a  court  is  injured  by  render- 
ing a  just  decree,  and  an  officer  by  executing 
it.  Then  it  is  a  greater  injury,  for  instance, 
to  stop  piracy  than  to  suffer  from  it.  Then 
the  manly  exercise  of  a  just  responsibility 
enfeebles  instead  of  developing  and  strength- 
ening a  nation. 

"Governments  derive  their  just  powers 
from  the  consent  of  the  governed."  "No 
man  is  good  enough  to  govern  another 
against  his  will."  Grreat  truths,  from  men 
whose  greatness  and  moral  elevation  the 
world  admires.  But  there  is  a  higher  au- 
thority than  Jefferson  or  Lincoln,  Who  said : 
"  If  a  man  smite  thee  on  thy  right  cheek,  turn 
to  him  the  other  also."  Yet  he  who  acted 
literally  on  even  that  divine  injunction  to- 
ward the  Malays  that  attacked  our  Army  in 
Manila  would  be  a  congenital  idiot  to  begin 
with,  and  his  corpse,  while  it  lasted,  would 
remain  an  object-lesson  of  how  not  to  deal 
with  the  present  stage  of  Malay  civilization 
and  Christianity. 

Why  mourn  over  our  present  course  as  a 
departure  from  the  policy  of  the  fathers? 


LATEK  ASPECTS   OF   OUR  NEW  DUTIES    185 

For  a  hundred  years  the  uniform  policy 
which  they  began  and  their  sons  contin- 
ued has  been  acquisition,  expansion,  an- 
nexation, reaching  out  to  remote  wilder- 
nesses far  more  distant  and  inaccessible 
then  than  the  Philippines  are  now  —  to 
disconnected  regions  like  Alaska,  to  island 
regions  like  Midway,  the  Guano  Islands,  the 
Aleutians,  the  Sandwich  Islands,  and  even  to 
quasi-protectorates  like  Liberia  and  Samoa. 
Why  mourn  because  of  the  precedent  we  are 
establishing  1  The  precedent  was  established 
before  we  were  born.  Why  distress  our- 
selves with  the  thought  that  this  is  only  the 
beginning,  that  it  opens  the  door  to  unlimited 
expansion  ?  The  door  is  wide  open  now,  and 
has  been  ever  since  Livingston  in  Paris 
jumped  at  Talleyrand's  offer  to  sell  him  the 
wilderness  west  of  the  Mississippi  instead  of 
'the  settlements  eastward  to  Florida,  which 
we  had  been  trying  to  get;  and  Jefferson 
eagerly  sustained  him.  For  the  rest,  the 
task  that  is  laid  upon  us  now  is  not  proving 
so  easy  as  to  warrant  this  fear  that  we  shall 
soon  be  seeking  unlimited  repetitions  of  it. 

That  danger,  in  fact,  can  come  only  if  we  Evasion  by 
shirk  our  present  duty  by  the  second  of  the 
two  alternative  methods  of  evasion  I  have 
mentioned— the  one  favored  by  the  exuber- 
ant  patriot   who    wants   to    clasp   Cuban, 


Embrace. 


186       PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

Kanaka,  and  Tagal  alike  to  his  bosom  as 
equal  partners  with  ourselves  in  our  inheri- 
tance from  the  fathers,  and  take  them  all  into 
the  Union  as  States. 

We  will  be  wise  to  open  our  eyes  at  once 
to  the  gi^avity  and  the  insidious  character 
of  this  danger— the  very  worst  that  could 
threaten  the  American  Union.  Once  begun, 
the  rivalry  of  parties  and  the  fears  of  politi- 
cians would  insure  its  continuance.  With 
Idaho  and  Wyoming  admitted,  they  did  not 
dare  prolong  the  exclusion  even  of  Utah,  and 
so  we  have  the  shame  of  seeing  an  avowed 
polygamist  with  a  prima  facie  right  to  sit  in 
our  Congress  as  a  legislator  not  merely  for 
Utah,  but  for  the  whole  Union.  At  this 
moment  scarcely  a  politician  dares  frankly 
avow  unalterable  opposition  to  the  admission 
of  Cuba,  if  she  should  seek  it.  Yet,  bad  as 
that  would  be,  it  would  necessarily  lead  to 
worse.  Others  in  the  West  Indies  might 
not  linger  long  behind.  In  any  event,  with 
Cuba  a  State,  Porto  Eico  could  not  be  kept 
a  Territory.  No  more  could  the  Sandwich 
Islands.  And  then,  looming  direct  in  our 
path,  like  a  volcano  rising  out  of  the  mist  on 
the  affrighted  vision  of  mariners  tempest- 
tossed  in  tropic  seas,  is  the  specter  of  such 
States  as  Luzon  and  the  Visayas  and  Haiti. 

They  would  have  precedents,  too,  to  quote, 
and    dangerous   ones.     When    we    bought 


LATEK  ASPECTS  OF  OUK  NEW  DUTIES   187 

Louisiana  we  stipulated  in  the  treaty  that 
"  the  inhabitants  of  the  ceded  territory  shall 
be  incorporated  in  the  Union  of  the  United 
States  and  admitted  as  soon  as  possible,  ac- 
cording to  the  principles  of  the  Federal 
Constitution,  to  the  enjoyment  of  all  the 
rights,  advantages,  and  immunities  of  citi- 
zens of  the  United  States."  We  made  almost 
identically  the  same  stipulation  when  we 
bought  Florida.  When  one  of  the  most  re- 
spected in  the  long  line  of  our  able  Secre- 
taries of  State,  Mr.  William  L.  Marcy, 
negotiated  a  treaty  in  1854  for  the  annexa- 
tion of  the  Sandwich  Islands,  he  provided 
that  they  should  be  incorporated  as  a  State, 
with  the  same  degree  of  sovereignty  as  other 
States,  and  on  perfect  equality  with  them. 
The  schemes  prior  to  1861  for  the  purchase 
or  annexation  of  Cuba  practically  all  looked 
to  the  same  result.  Not  till  the  annexation 
of  San  Domingo  was  proposed  did  this  fea- 
ture disappear  from  our  treaties.  It  is  only 
candid  to  add  that  the  habit  of  regarding  this 
as  the  necessary  destiny  of  any  United  States 
Territory  as  soon  as  it  has  sufficient  popula- 
tion has  been  universal.  It  is  no  modern 
vagary,  but  the  practice,  if  not  the  theory,  of 
our  whole  national  life,  that  would  open  the 
doors  of  our  Senate  and  House,  and  give  a 
share  in  the  Government  to  these  wild-eyed 
newcomers  from  the  islands  of  the  sea. 


188       PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

The  calamity  of  admitting  them  cannot  be 
overrated.  Even  in  the  case  of  the  best  of 
these  islands,  it  would  demoralize  and  de- 
grade the  national  suffrage  almost  incal- 
culably below  the  point  already  reached. 
To  the  Senate,  unwieldy  now,  and  greatly 
changed  in  character  from  the  l3ody  contem- 
plated by  the  Constitution,  it  would  be  dis- 
astrous. For  the  present  States  of  the  Union 
it  would  be  an  act  of  folly  like  that  of  a 
business  firm  which  blindly  steered  for 
bankruptcy  by  freely  admitting  to  full 
partnership  new  members,  strangers,  and 
non-residents,  not  only  otherwise  ill  quali- 
fied, but  with  absolutely  conflicting  interests. 
And  it  would  be  a  distinct  violation  of  the 
clause  in  the  preamble  that  "  we,  the  people, 
...  do  ordain  and  establish  this  Constitu- 
tion for  the  United  States  of  America,^ 

There  is  the  only  safe  ground— on  the  letter 
and  the  spirit  of  the  Constitution.  It  con- 
templated a  Continental  Union  of  sovereign 
States.  It  limited  that  Union  to  the  Ameri- 
can Continent.  The  man  that  takes  it  farther 
sounds  its  death-knell. 

The  General  I  HAVE  designedly  left  to  the  last  any  esti- 

Weifare.       mate  of  the  material  interests  we  serve  by 

holding  on  in  our  present  course.    Whatever 

these  may  be,  they  are  only  a  subordinate 

consideration.    We  are  in  the  Philippines, 


LATER  ASPECTS   OF  OUR  NEW  DUTIES   189 

as  we  are  in  the  West  Indies,  because  duty 
sent  us;  and  we  shall  remain  because  we 
have  no  right  to  run  away  from  our  duty, 
even  if  it  does  involve  far  more  trouble  than 
we  foresaw  when  we  plunged  into  the  war 
that  entailed  it.  The  call  to  duty,  when  once 
plainly  understood,  is  a  call  Americans  never 
fail  to  answer,  while  to  calls  of  interest  they 
have  often  shown  themselves  incredulous  or 
contemptuous. 

But  the  Constitution  we  revere  was  also 
ordained  "  to  promote  the  general  welfare," 
and  he  is  untrue  to  its  purpose  who  squanders 
opportunities.  Never  before  have  they  been 
showered  upon  us  in  such  bewildering  pro- 
fusion. Are  the  American  people  to  rise  to 
the  occasion  ?  Are  they  to  be  as  great  as  their 
country  ?  Or  shall  the  historian  record  that 
at  this  unexampled  crisis  they  were  con- 
trolled by  timid  ideas  and  short-sighted 
views,  and  so  proved  unequal  to  the  duty 
and  the  opportunity  which  unforeseen  cir- 
cumstances brought  to  their  doors?  The 
two  richest  archipelagos  in  the  world  are 
practically  at  our  disposal.  The  greatest 
ocean  on  the  globe  has  been  put  in  our 
hands,  the  ocean  that  is  to  bear  the  com- 
merce of  the  Twentieth  Century.  In  the  face 
of  this  prospect,  shall  we  prefer,  with  the 
teeming  population  that  century  is  to  bring 
us,  to  remain  a  "hibernating  nation,  living 


190       PKOBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

off  its  owi^  fat— a  hermit  nation,"  as  Mr. 
Senator  Davis  has  asked?  For  our  first 
Assistant  Secretary  of  State,  Mr.  Hill,  was 
right  when  he  said  that  not  to  enter  the  Open 
Door  in  Asia  means  the  perpetual  isolation 
of  this  continent. 

Have  they  Are  we  to  be  discouraged  by  the  cry  that 
any  Value?  ^Yiq  uew  possessions  are  worthless!  Not 
while  we  remember  how  often  and  under 
what  circumstances  we  have  heard  that  cry 
before.  Half  the  public  men  of  the  period 
denounced  Louisiana  as  worthless.  Eminent 
statesmen  made  merry  in  Congress  over  the 
idea  that  Oregon  or  Washington  could  be  of 
any  use.  Daniel  Webster,  in  the  most  solemn 
and  authoritative  tones  Massachusetts  has 
ever  employed,  assured  his  fellow- Senators 
that,  in  his  judgment,  California  was  not 
worth  a  dollar. 

Is  it  said  that  the  commercial  opportu- 
nities in  the  Orient,  or  at  least  in  the  Philip- 
pines, are  overrated  ?  So  it  used  to  be  said 
of  the  Sandwich  Islands.  But  what  does 
our  experience  show  I  Before  their  annexa- 
tion even,  but  after  we  had  taken  this  little 
archipelago  under  our  protection  and  into 
our  commercial  system,  our  ocean  tonnage 
in  that  trade  became  nearly  double  as  heavy 
as  with  Great  Britain.  Why?  Because, 
while  we  have  lost  the  trade  of  the  Atlantic, 


LATEE  ASPECTS   OF   OUR  NEW  DUTIES    191 

superior  advantages  make  the  Pacific  ours. 
Is  it  said  that  elsewhere  on  the  Pacific  we 
can  do  as  well  without  a  controlling  political 
influence  as  with  it  ?  Look  again  !  Mexico 
buys  our  products  at  the  rate  of  $1.95  for 
each  inhabitant ;  South  America  at  the  rate 
of  90  cents;  Great  Britain  at  the  rate  of 
$13.42 ;  Canada  at  the  rate  of  $14 ;  and  the 
Hawaiian  Islands  at  the  rate  of  $53.35  for 
each  inhabitant.  Look  at  the  trade  of  the 
chief  city  on  the  Pacific  coast.  All  Mexico 
and  Central  America,  all  the  western  parts  of 
South  America  and  of  Canada,  are  as  near  to 
it  as  is  Honolulu ;  and  comparison  of  the  little 
Sandwich  Islands  in  population  with  any  of 
them  would  be  ridiculous.  Yet  none  of  them 
bought  as  much  salmon  in  San  Francisco  as 
Hawaii,  and  no  countries  bought  more  save 
England  and  Australia.  No  countries 
bought  as  much  barley,  excepting  Central 
America;  and  even  in  the  staff  of  life,  the 
California  flour,  which  all  the  world  buys, 
only  five  countries  outranked  Hawaii  in 
purchases  in  San  Francisco. 

No  doubt  a  part  of  this  result  is  due  to  the 
nearness  of  Hawaii  to  our  markets,  and  her 
distance  from  any  others  capable  of  compet- 
ing with  us,  and  another  part  to  a  favorable 
system  of  reciprocity.  Nevertheless,  nobody 
doubts  the  advantage  our  dealers  have  de- 
rived in  the  promotion  of  trade  from  con- 


1Q2  PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

trolling  political  relations  and  frequent 
intercourse.  There  are  those  who  deny- 
that  "  trade  follows  the  flag,"  but  even  they 
admit  that  it  leaves  if  the  flag  does.  And, 
independent  of  these  advantages,  and  reck- 
oning by  mere  distance,  we  still  have  the 
better  of  any  European  rivals  in  the  Philip- 
pines. Now,  assume  that  the  Filipino  would 
have  far  fewer  wants  than  the  Kanaka  or  his 
coolie  laborer,  and  would  do  far  less  work 
for  the  means  to  gratify  them.  Admit,  too, 
that,  with  the  Open  Door,  our  political  re- 
lations and  frequent  intercourse  could  have 
barely  a  fifth  or  a  sixth  of  the  effect  there 
they  have  had  in  the  Sandwich  Islands. 
Roughly  cast  up  even  that  result,  and  say 
whether  it  is  a  value  which  the  United  States 
should  throw  away  as  not  worth  consider- 
ing! 

And  the  greatest  remains  behind.  For  the 
trade  in  the  Philippines  will  be  but  a  drop 
in  the  bucket  compared  to  that  of  China,  for 
which  they  give  us  an  unapproachable  foot- 
hold. But  let  it  never  be  forgotten  that  the 
confidence  of  Orientals  goes  only  to  those 
whom  they  recognize  as  strong  enough  and 
determined  enough  always  to  hold  their  own 
and  protect  their  rights !  The  worst  possible 
introduction  for  the  Asiatic  trade  would  be 
an  irresolute  abandonment  of  our  foothold 
because  it  was  too  much  trouble  to  keep,  or 


LATEE  ASPECTS   OF  OUR  NEW  DUTIES    193 

because  some  Malay  and  half-breed  insur- 
gents said  they  wanted  us  away. 

Have  you  considered  for  whom  we  hold  The  Future. 
these  advantages  in  trust?  They  belong 
not  merely  to  the  seventy- five  millions  now 
within  our  borders,  but  to  all  who  are  to  ex- 
tend the  fortunes  and  preserve  the  virtues 
of  the  Eepublic  in  the  coming  century.  Their 
numbers  cannot  increase  in  the  startling 
ratio  this  century  has  shown.  If  they  did  the 
population  of  the  United  States  a  hundred 
years  hence  would  be  over  twelve  hundred 
millions.  That  ratio  is  impossible,  but  no- 
body gives  reasons  why  we  should  not  in- 
crease half  as  fast.  Suppose  we  do  actually 
increase  only  one  fourth  as  fast  in  the  Twen- 
tieth Century  as  in  the  Nineteenth.  To  what 
height  would  not  the  three  hundred  millions 
of  Americans  whom  even  that  ratio  foretells 
bear  up  the  seething  industrial  activities  of 
the  continent !  To  what  corner  of  the  world 
would  they  not  need  to  carry  their  com- 
merce I  What  demands  on  tropical  produc- 
tions would  they  not  make?  What  outlets 
for  their  adventurous  youth  would  they  not 
require?  With  such  a  prospect  before  us, 
who  thinks  that  we  should  shrink  from  an 
enlargement  of  our  national  sphere  because 
of  the  limitations  that  bound,  or  the  dangers 
that    threatened,    before    railroads,   before 


194       PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

ocean  steamers,  before  telegraphs  and  ocean 
cables,  before  the  enormous  development  of 
our  manufactures,  and  the  training  of  exec- 
utive and  organizing  faculties  in  our  people 
on  a  constantly  increasing  scale  for  genera- 
tions I 

Does  the  prospect  alarm  !  Is  it  said  that 
our  Nation  is  already  too  great,  that  all  its 
magnificent  gi'owth  only  adds  to  the  conflict- 
ing interests  that  must  eventually  tear  it 
asunder !  What  cement,  then,  like  that  of  a 
great  common  interest  beyond  our  borders, 
that  touches  not  merely  the  conscience  but 
the  pocket  and  the  pride  of  all  alike,  and 
marshals  us  in  the  face  of  the  world,  stand- 
ing for  our  own ! 

What,  then,  is  the  conclusion  of  the  whole 
matter  ?  Hold  fast !  Stand  firm  in  the  place 
where  Providence  has  put  you,  and  do  the 
duty  a  just  responsibility  for  your  own  past 
acts  imposes.  Support  the  army  you  sent 
there.  Stop  wasting  valuable  strength  by 
showing  how  things  might  be  different  if 
something  different  had  been  done  a  year 
and  a  half  ago.  Use  the  educated  thought 
of  the  country  for  shaping  best  its  course 
now,  instead  of  chiefly  finding  fault  with  its 
history.  Bring  the  best  hope  of  the  future, 
the  colleges  and  the  generation  they  are  train- 
ing, to  exert  the  greatest  influence  and  accom- 
plish the  most  good  by  working  intelligently 


LATER  ASPECTS   OF  OUR  NEW  DUTIES    195 

in  line  with  the  patriotic  aspirations  and  the 
inevitable  tendencies  of  the  American  people, 
rather  than  against  them.  Unite  the  efforts 
of  all  men  of  good  will  to  make  the  appoint- 
ment of  any  person  to  these  new  and  strange 
duties  beyond  seas  impossible  save  for  proved 
fitness,  and  his  removal  impossible  save  for 
cause.  Eally  the  colleges  and  the  churches, 
and  all  they  influence,  the  brain  and  the  con- 
science of  the  country,  in  a  combined  and 
irresistible  demand  for  a  genuine,  trained, 
and  pure  Civil  Service  in  our  new  posses- 
sions, that  shall  put  to  shame  our  detractors, 
and  show  to  the  world  the  Americans  of  this 
generation,  equal  still  to  the  work  of  civili- 
zation and  colonization,  and  leading  the  de- 
velopment of  the  coming  century  as  bravely 
as  their  fathers  led  it  in  the  last. 


IX 
A  CONTINENTAL  UNION 


This  speech  was  delivered  on  the  invitation  of  the  Mas- 
sachusetts Club,  at  their  regular  dinner  in  Boston,  March 
3,  1900. 


A  CONTINENTAL  UNION 


A  THIRD  of  a  century  ago  I  had  the 
honor  to  be  a  guest  at  this  club,  which 
met  then,  as  now,  in  Young's  Hotel.  It  has 
ever  since  been  a  pleasure  to  recall  the  men 
of  Boston  who  gathered  about  the  board, 
interested,  as  now,  in  the  affairs  of  the  Ee- 
public  to  which  they  were  at  once  ornament 
and  defense.  Frank  Bird  sat  at  the  head. 
Near  him  was  Henry  Wilson.  John  M. 
Forbes  was  here,  and  John  A.  Andrew,  and 
George  S.  Boutwell,  and  Greorge  L.  Stearns, 
and  many  another,  eager  in  those  times  of 
trial  to  seek  and  know  the  best  thing  to  be 
done  to  serve  this  country  of  our  pride  and 
love.  They  were  practical  business  men, 
true  Yankees  in  the  best  sense;  and  they 
spent  no  time  then  in  quarreling  over  how 
we  got  into  our  trouble.  Their  one  con- 
cern was  how  to  get  out  to  the  greatest 
advantage  of  the  country. 

Honored  now  by  another  opportunity  to 
meet  with  the  club,  I  can  do  no  better  than 
profit  by  this  example  of  your  earlier  days. 

199 


Undone. 


200  PKOBLEMS   OF  EXPANSION 

You  have  asked  me  to  speak  on  some  phase 
of  the  Philippine  question.  I  would  like  to 
concentrate  your  attention  upon  the  present 
and  practical  phase,  and  to  withdraw  it  for 
the  time  from  things  that  are  past  and  can- 
not be  changed. 

Things  that  Stake  decisis.  There  are  some  things  set- 
?,"""-i**^  tied.  Have  we  not  a  better  and  more  urgent 
use  for  our  time  now  than  in  showing  why- 
some  of  us  would  have  liked  them  settled 
differently?  In  my  State  there  is  a  dictum 
by  an  eminent  judge  of  the  Court  of  Appeals, 
so  familiar  now  as  to  be  a  commonplace,  to 
the  effect  that  when  that  court  has  rendered 
its  decision,  there  are  only  two  things  left  to 
the  disappointed  advocate.  One  is  to  ac- 
cept the  result  attained,  and  go  to  work 
on  it  as  best  he  can ;  the  other,  to  go  down 
to  the  tavern  and  "  cuss  "  the  court.  I  want 
to  suggest  to  those  who  dislike  the  past  of 
the  Philippine  question  that  there  is  more 
important  work  pressing  upon  you  at  this 
moment  than  to  cuss  the  court.  You  cannot 
change  the  past,  but  you  may  prevent  some 
threatened  sequences  which  even  in  your 
eyes  would  be  far  greater  calamities. 

There  is  no  use  bewailing  the  war  with 
Spain.  Nothing  can  undo  it,  and  its  results 
are  upon  us.  There  is  no  use  arguing  that 
Dewey  should  have  abandoned  his  conquest. 


A  CONTINENTAL  UNION  201 

He  did  n't.  There  is  no  use  regretting  the 
Peace  of  Paris.  For  good  or  for  ill,  it  is  a 
part  of  the  supreme  law  of  the  land.  There 
is  no  use  begrudging  the  twenty  millions. 
They  are  paid.  There  is  no  use  depreciating 
the  islands,  East  or  West.  They  are  the 
property  of  the  United  States  by  an  immu- 
table title  which,  whatever  some  of  our  own 
people  say,  the  whole  civilized  world  recog- 
nizes and  respects.  There  is  no  use  talking 
about  getting  rid  of  them— giving  them 
back  to  Spain,  or  turning  them  over  to 
Aguinaldo,  or  simply  running  away  from 
them.  Whoever  thinks  that  any  one  of 
these  things  could  be  done,  or  is  still  open 
to  profitable  debate,  takes  his  observations 
—will  you  pardon  me  the  liberty  of  saying 
it?— takes  his  observations  too  closely 
within  the  horizon  of  Boston  Bay  to  know 
the  American  people. 

They  have  not  been  persuaded  and  they 
cannot  be  persuaded  that  this  is  an  inferior 
Government,  incapable  of  any  duty  Provi- 
dence (through  the  acts  of  a  wicked  Admin- 
istration, if  you  choose)  may  send  its  way- 
duties  which  other  nations  could  discharge, 
but  we  cannot.  They  do  not  and  will  not 
believe  that  it  was  any  such  maimed,  im- 
perfect, misshapen  cripple  from  birth  for 
which  our  forefathers  made  a  place  in  the 
family  of  nations.     Nor  are  they  misled  by 


202       PBOBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

the  cry  that,  in  a  populous  region,  thronged 
by  the  ships  and  traders  of  all  countries, 
where  their  own  prosecution  of  a  just  war 
broke  down  whatever  guaranties  for  order 
had  previously  existed,  they  are  violating 
the  natural  rights  of  man  by  enforcing  or- 
der. Just  as  little  are  they  misled  by  the 
other  cry  that  they  are  violating  the  right 
of  self-government,  and  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  and  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  by  preparing  for  the  dis- 
tracted, warring  tribes  of  that  region  such 
local  government  as  they  may  be  found  ca- 
pable of  conducting,  in  their  various  stages 
of  development  from  pure  barbarism  toward 
civilization.  The  American  people  know 
they  are  thus  proceeding  to  do  just  what 
Jefferson  did  in  the  vast  region  he  bought 
from  France— without  the  consent,  by  the 
way,  either  of  its  sovereign  or  its  inhabi- 
tants. They  know  they  are  following  in 
the  exact  path  of  all  the  constructive  states- 
men of  the  Republic,  from  the  days  of  the 
man  who  wrote  the  Declaration,  and  of  those 
who  made  the  Constitution,  down  to  the 
days  of  the  men  who  conquered  California, 
bought  Alaska,  and  denied  the  right  of  self- 
government  to  Jefferson  Davis.  They  sim- 
ply do  not  believe  that  a  new  light  has  been 
given  to  Mr.  Bryan,  or  to  the  better  men 
who  are  aiding  him,  greater  and  purer  than 


A  CONTINENTAL  UNION  203 

was  given  to  Washington,  or  to  Jefferson, 
or  to  Lincoln. 

And  so  I  venture  to  repeat,  without  quali- 
fication or  reserve,  that  what  is  past  cannot 
be  changed.  Candid  and  dispassionate 
minds,  knowing  the  American  people  of  all 
political  shades  and  in  all  sections  of  the 
country,  can  see  no  possibility  that  any 
party  in  power,  whether  the  present  one  or 
its  opponent,  would  or  could,  now  or  soon,  if 
ever,  abandon  or  give  back  one  foot  of  the 
territory  gained  in  the  late  war,  and  ours 
now  by  the  supreme  law  of  the  land  and 
with  the  assent  of  the  civilized  world.  As 
well  may  you  look  to  see  California,  which 
your  own  Daniel  Webster,  quite  in  a  certain 
modern  Massachusetts  style,  once  declared 
in  the  Senate  to  be  not  worth  a  dollar,  now 
abandoned  to  Mexico. 

It  seems  to  me,  then,  idle  to  thresh  over  old  No  Abstrac- 
straw  when  the  grain  is  not  only  winnowed,  **®"f  ®r 

AD0l0fi[i6s  or 

but  gone  to  the  mill.  And  so  I  am  not  here  Attacks, 
to  discuss  abstract  questions:  as,  for  ex- 
ample, whether  in  the  year  1898  the  United 
States  was  wise  in  going  to  war  with  Spain, 
though  on  that  I  might  not  greatly  disagree 
with  the  malcontents;  or  as  to  the  wisdom 
of  expansion;  or  as  to  the  possibility  of  a 
republic's  maintaining  its  authority  over  a 
people  without  their  consent.  Nor  am  I  here 


204       PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

to  apologize  for  my  part  in  making  the  na- 
tion that  was  in  the  wrong  and  beaten  in  the 
late  war  pay  for  it  in  territory.  I  have  never 
thought  of  denying  or  evading  my  own  full 
share  of  responsibility  in  that  matter.  Con- 
scious of  a  duty  done,  I  am  happily  inde- 
pendent enough  to  be  measurably  indifferent 
as  to  a  mere  present  and  temporary  effect. 
Whatever  the  verdict  of  the  men  of  Massa- 
chusetts to-day,  I  contentedly  await  the  ver- 
dict of  their  sons. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  I  am  not  here  either 
to  launch  charges  of  treason  against  any 
opponent  of  these  policies,  who  nevertheless 
loves  the  institutions  founded  on  these 
shores  by  your  ancestors,  and  wishes  to  per- 
petuate what  they  created.  Least  of  all 
would  it  occur  to  me  to  utter  a  word  in  dis- 
paragement of  your  senior  Senator,  of  whom 
it  may  be  said  with  respectful  and  almost 
affectionate  regard  that  he  bears  a  warrant 
as  authentic  as  that  of  the  most  distin- 
guished of  his  predecessors  to  speak  for  the 
conscience  and  the  culture  of  Massachusetts. 
Nor  shall  any  reproach  be  uttered  by  me 
against  another  eminent  son  of  the  com- 
monwealth and  servant  of  the  Eepublic, 
who  was  expected,  as  one  of  the  officers  of 
your  club  told  me,  to  make  this  occasion 
distinguished  by  his  presence.  He  has  been 
represented  as  resenting  the  unchangeable 


A  CONTINENTAL   UNION  205 

past  SO  sternly  that  he  now  hopes  to  aid  in 
defeating  the  party  he  has  helped  to  lead 
through  former  trials  to  present  glory.  If 
so,  and  if  from  the  young  and  unremember- 
ing  reproach  should  come,  be  it  ours,  silent 
and  walking  backward,  merely  to  cast  over 
him  the  mantle  of  his  own  honored  service. 

No,  no!  Let  us  have  a  truce  to  profitless  Common 
disputes  about  what  cannot  be  reversed.  ^"^  *"<^  * 
Censure  us  if  you  must.  Even  strike  at  Danger. 
your  old  associates  and  your  own  party  if 
you  will  and  when  you  can,  without  harm- 
ing causes  you  hold  dear.  But  for  the  duty 
of  this  hour,  consider  if  there  is  not  a  com- 
mon meeting-ground  and  instant  necessity 
for  union  in  a  rational  effort  to  avert  present 
perils.  This,  then,  is  my  appeal.  Disagree 
as  we  may  about  the  past,  let  us  to-day  at 
least  see  straight— see  things  as  they  are. 
Let  us  suspend  disputes  about  what  is  done 
and  cannot  be  undone,  long  enough  to  rally 
all  the  forces  of  good  will,  all  the  undoubted 
courage  and  zeal  and  patriotism  that  are 
now  at  odds,  in  a  devoted  effort  to  meet  the 
greater  dangers  that  are  upon  us. 

For  the  enemy  is  at  the  gates.  More  than 
that,  there  is  some  reason  to  fear  that,  through 
dissensions  from  within,  he  may  gain  the 
citadel.  In  their  eagerness  to  embarrass  the 
advocates  of  what  has  been  done,  and  with 


206       PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

the  vain  hope  of  in  some  way  undoing  it, 
and  so  lifting  this  Nation  of  seventy-five 
millions  bodily  backward  two  years  on  its 
path,  there  are  many  who  are  still  putting 
forth  all  their  energies  in  straining  our  Con- 
stitution and  defying  our  history,  to  show 
that  we  have  no  possessions  whose  people 
are  not  entitled  to  citizenship  and  ultimately 
to  Statehood.  Grant  that,  and  instead  of 
reversing  engines  safely  in  mid-career,  as 
they  vainly  hope,  they  must  simply  plunge 
us  over  the  precipice.  The  movement  began 
in  the  demand  that  our  Dingley  tariff— as  a 
matter  of  right,  not  of  policy,  for  most  of 
these  people  denounce  the  tariff  itself  as 
barbarous— that  our  Dingley  tariff  should 
of  necessity  be  extended  over  Porto  Rico  as 
an  integral  part  of  the  United  States.  Fol- 
lowing an  assent  to  this  must  have  come  in- 
evitably all  the  other  rights  and  privileges 
belonging  to  citizenship,  and  then  no  power 
could  prevent  the  admission  of  the  State  of 
Porto  Rico. 

Some  may  think  that  in  itself  would  be 
no  great  thing,  though  it  is  for  you  to  say 
how  Massachusetts  would  relish  having  this 
mixed  population,  a  little  more  than  half 
colonial  Spanish,  the  rest  negro  and  half- 
breed,  illiterate,  alien  in  language,  alien  in 
ideas  of  right,  interests,  and  government, 
send  in  from  the  mid- Atlantic,  nearly  a  third 


A  CONTINENTAL  UNION  207 

of  the  way  over  to  Africa,  two  Senators  to  bal- 
ance the  votes  of  Mr.  Hoar  and  Mr.  Lodge ; 
for  you  to  say  how  Massachusetts  would  re- 
gard the  spectacle  of  her  senatorial  vote 
nullified,  and  one  third  of  her  representa- 
tion in  the  House  offset  on  questions,  for 
instance,  of  sectional  and  purely  Northern 
interest,  in  the  government  of  this  conti- 
nent, and  in  the  administration  of  this  pre- 
cious heritage  of  our  fathers. 

Or,  suppose  Massachusetts  to  be  so  little 
Yankee  (in  the  best  sense  still)  that  she 
could  bear  all  this  without  murmur  or 
objection— is  it  to  be  imagined  that  she 
can  lift  other  States  in  this  generation  to 
her  altruistic  level  I  How  would  Kansas, 
for  example,  enjoy  being  balanced  in  the 
Senate,  and  nearly  balanced  in  the  House, 
on  questions  relating  to  the  irrigation  of 
her  arid  plains,  or  the  protection  of  her  beet- 
root industry,  or  on  any  others  affecting  the 
great  central  regions  of  this  continent,  by 
these  voices  from  the  watery  waste  of  the 
ocean  ?  Or  how  would  West  Virginia  or  Ore- 
gon or  Connecticut,  or  half  a  dozen  others 
of  similar  population,  regard  it  to  be  actu- 
ally outvoted  in  their  own  home,  on  their 
own  continent,  by  this  Spanish  and  negro 
waif  from  the  mid- Atlantic  ? 

All  this,  in  itself,  may  seem  to  some  un- 
important, negligible,  even  trivial.     At  any 


208       PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

rate,  it  would  be  inevitable ;  since  no  one  is 
wild  enough  to  believe  that  Porto  Rico  can 
be  turned  back  to  Spain,  or  bartered  away, 
or  abandoned  by  the  generation  that  took 
it.  But  make  its  people  citizens  now,  and 
you  have  already  made  it,  potentially,  a 
State.  Then  behind  Porto  Rico  stands 
Cuba,  and  behind  Cuba,  in  time,  stand  the 
whole  of  the  West  Indies,  on  whom  that  law 
of  political  gravitation  which  John  Quincy 
Adams  described  will  be  perpetually  acting 
with  redoubled  force.  And  behind  them — 
no,  far  ahead  of  them,  abreast  of  Porto  Rico 
itself— stand  the  Philippines!  The  Con- 
stitution which  our  fathers  reverently  or- 
dained for  the  United  States  of  America  is 
thus  tortured  by  its  professed  friends  into  a 
crazy-quilt,  under  whose  dirty  folds  must 
huddle  the  United  States  of  America,  of 
the  West  Indies,  of  the  East  Indies,  and  of 
Polynesia ;  and  Pandemonium  is  upon  us. 

TheDegrada-  I  IMPLORE  you,  as  thinking  men,  pause  long 
R^"  blic?^  enough  to  realize  the  degradation  of  the  Re- 
public thus  calmly  contemplated  by  those 
who  proclaim  this  to  be  our  constitutional 
duty  toward  our  possessions.  The  republi- 
can institutions  I  have  been  trained  to  be- 
lieve in  were  institutions  founded,  like  those 
of  New  England,  on  the  Church  and  the 
school-house.      They  constitute   a  system 


A   CONTINENTAL   UNION  209 

only  likely  to  endure  among  a  people  of 
high  virtue  and  high  intelligence.  The  re- 
publican government  built  up  on  this  conti- 
nent, while  the  most  successful  in  the  history 
of  the  world,  is  also  the  most  complicated, 
the  most  expensive,  and  often  the  slowest. 
Such  are  its  complications  and  checks  and 
balances  and  interdependencies,  which  tax 
the  intelligence,  the  patience,  and  the  virtue 
of  the  highest  Caucasian  development,  that 
it  is  a  system  absolutely  unworkable  by  a 
group  of  Oriental  and  tropical  races,  more 
or  less  hostile  to  each  other,  whose  highest 
type  is  a  Chinese  and  Malay  half-breed, 
and  am.ong  whom  millions,  a  majority  pos- 
sibly, are  far  below  the  level  of  the  pure 
Malay. 

What  holds  a  nation  together,  unless  it 
be  community  of  interests,  character,  and 
language,  and  contiguous  territory  ?  What 
would  more  thoroughly  insure  its  speedily 
flying  to  pieces  than  the  lack  of  every  one 
of  these  requisites!  Over  and  over,  the 
clearest-eyed  students  of  history  have  pre- 
dicted our  own  downfall  even  as  a  conti- 
nental republic,  in  spite  of  our  measurable 
enjoyment  of  all  of  them.  How  near  we  all 
believed  we  came  to  it  once  or  twice !  How 
manifestly,  under  the  incongruous  hodge- 
podge of  additions  to  the  Union  thus  pro- 
posed, we  should  be  organizing  with  Satanic 


210       PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

skill  the  exact  conditions  which  have  inva- 
riably led  to  such  downfalls  elsewhere ! 

Before  the  advent  of  the  United  States, 
the  history  of  the  world's  efforts  at  repub- 
licanism was  a  monotonous  record  of  failure. 
Your  very  school-boys  are  taught  the  reason. 
It  was  because  the  average  of  intelligence 
and  morality  was  too  low;  because  they 
lacked  the  self-restrained,  self-governing 
quality  developed  in  the  Anglo-Saxon  bone 
and  fiber  through  all  the  centuries  since 
Eunnymede;  because  they  grew  unwieldy 
and  lost  cohesion  by  reason  of  unrelated 
territory,  alien  races  and  languages,  and 
inevitable  territorial  and  climatic  conflicts 
of  interest. 

On  questions  vitally  affecting  the  welfare 
of  this  continent  it  is  inconceivable,  un- 
thinkable, that  even  altruistic  Massachusetts 
should  tolerate  having  her  two  Senators  and 
thirteen  Eepresentatives  neutralized  by  as 
many  from  Mindanao.  Yet  Mindanao  has 
a  greater  population  than  Massachusetts, 
and  its  Mohammedan  Malays  are  as  keen  for 
the  conduct  of  public  affairs,  can  talk  as 
much,  and  look  as  shrewdly  for  the  profit 
of  it. 

There  are  cheerful,  happy-go-lucky  public 
men  who  assure  us  that  the  national  diges- 
tion has  been  proved  equal  to  anything. 
Has  it  I    Are  we  content,  for  example,  with 


A  CONTINENTAL  UNION  211 

the  way  we  have  dealt  with  the  negro  prob- 
lem in  the  Southern  States  ?  Do  we  think 
the  suffrage  question  there  is  now  on  a 
permanent  basis  which  either  we  or  our 
Southern  friends  can  be  proud  of,  while  we 
lack  the  courage  either  honestly  to  enforce 
the  rule  of  the  majority,  or  honestly  to  sanc- 
tion a  limitation  of  suffrage  within  lines  of 
intelligence  and  thrift?  How  well  would 
our  famous  national  digestion  probably  ad- 
vance if  we  filled  up  our  Senate  with  twelve 
or  fourteen  more  Senators,  representing 
conditions  incomparably  worse  ? 

Is  it  said  this  danger  is  imaginary?  At 
this  moment  some  of  the  purest  and  most 
patriotic  men  in  Massachusetts,  along  with 
a  great  many  of  the  very  worst  in  the  whole 
country,  are  vehemently  declaring  that  our 
new  possessions  are  already  a  part  of  the 
United  States;  that  in  spite  of  the  treaty 
which  reserved  the  question  of  citizenship 
and  political  status  for  Congress,  their  peo- 
ple are  already  citizens  of  the  United  States ; 
and  that  no  part  of  the  United  States  can 
be  arbitrarily  and  permanently  excluded 
from  Statehood. 

The  immediate  contention,  to  be  sure,  is 
only  about  Porto  Eico,  and  it  is  only  a  very 
little  island.  But  who  believes  he  can  stop 
the  avalanche  ?  What  wise  man,  at  least, 
will  take  the  risk  of  starting  it  ?    Who  ima- 


212       PKOBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

gines  that  we  can  take  in  Porto  Rico  and 
keep  out  nearer  islands  when  they  come! 
Powerful  elements  are  already  pushing 
Cuba.  Practically  everybody  recognizes 
now  that  we  must  retain  control  of  Cuba's 
foreign  relations.  But  beyond  that,  the 
same  influences  that  came  so  near  hurrying 
us  into  a  recognition  of  the  Cuban  Republic 
and  the  Cuban  debt  are  now  sure  that  Cuba 
will  very  shortly  be  so  "  Americanized " 
(that  is,  overrun  with  American  specula- 
tors) that  it  cannot  be  denied  admission— 
that,  in  fact,  it  will  be  as  American  as 
Florida!  And,  after  Cuba,  the  deluge! 
Who  fancies  that  we  could  then  keep  San 
Domingo  and  Haiti  out,  or  any  West  India 
island  that  applied,  or  our  friends  the  Ka- 
nakas 1  Or  who  fancies  that  after  the  baser 
sort  have  once  tasted  blood,  in  the  form  of 
such  rotten-borough  States,  and  have  learned 
to  form  their  larger  combinations  with  them, 
we  shall  still  be  able  to  admit  as  a  matter  of 
right  a  part  of  the  territory  exacted  from 
Spain,  and  yet  deny  admission  as  a  matter 
of  right  to  the  rest  ? 

The  Nation  has  lately  been  renewing  its 
affectionate  memories  of  a  man  who  died  in 
his  effort  to  hold  on,  with  or  without  their 
consent,  to  the  States  we  already  have  on 
this  continent,  but  who  never  dreamed  of 
casting  a  drag-net  over  the  world's  archi- 


A  CONTINENTAL  UNION  213 

pelages  for  more.  Do  we  remember  his 
birthday  and  forget  his  words  ?  "  This  Gov- 
ernment "—meaning  that  under  the  Con- 
stitution ordained  for  the  United  States  of 
^mmm— "this  Government  cannot  perma- 
nently endure,  half  slave,  half  free."  Who 
disputes  it  now  ?  Well,  then,  can  it  endure 
half  civilized  and  enlightened,  half  barba- 
rous and  pagan;  half  white,  half  black, 
brown,  yellow,  and  mixed ;  half  Northern 
and  Western,  half  tropical  and  Oriental; 
one  half  a  homogeneous  continent,  the  rest 
in  myriads  of  islands  scattered  half-way 
around  the  globe,  but  all  eager  to  partici- 
pate in  ruling  this  continent  which  our 
fathers  with  fire  and  sword  redeemed  from 
barbarism  and  subdued  to  the  uses  of  the 
highest  civilization  ? 

I  WILL  not  insult  your  intelligence  or  your  ciamor  that 
patriotism  by  imagining  it  possible  that  in  tJf®.^  "®* 

•  xf         r.  '  1        ±^  11  Disturb. 

View  01  such  considerations  you  could  con- 
sent to  the  madman's  policy  of  taking  these 
islands  we  control  into  full  partnership  with 
the  States  of  this  Union.  Nor  need  you  be 
much  disturbed  by  the  interested  outcries  as 
to  the  injustice  you  do  by  refusing  to  admit 
them. 

When  it  is  said  you  are  denying  the  nat- 
ural rights  Mr.  Jefferson  proclaimed,  you 
can  answer  that  you  are  giving  these  peo- 


214       PBOBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

pie,  in  their  distant  islands,  the  identical 
form  of  government  Mr.  Jefferson  himself 
gave  to  the  territories  on  this  continent 
which  he  bought.  When  it  is  said  you  are 
denying  our  own  cardinal  doctrine  of  self- 
government,  you  can  point  to  the  arrange- 
ments for  establishing  every  particle  of 
self-government  with  which  these  widely 
different  tribes  can  be  safely  trusted,  con- 
sistently with  your  responsibility  for  the 
preservation  of  order  and  the  protection  of 
life  and  property  in  that  archipelago,  and 
the  pledge  of  more  the  moment  they  are 
found  capable  of  it.  "When  you  are  asked, 
as  a  leading  champion^  asked  the  other 
night  at  Philadelphia,  "  Does  your  liberation 
of  one  people  give  you  the  right  to  subju- 
gate another  ?  "  you  can  answer  him,  "  No ; 
nor  to  allow  and  aid  Aguinaldo  to  subju- 
gate them,  either,  as  you  proposed."  When 
the  idle  quibble  that  after  Dewey's  victory 
Spain  had  no  sovereignty  to  cede  is  re- 
peated, it  may  be  asked, "  Why  acknowledge, 
then,  that  she  did  cede  it  in  Porto  Rico  and 
relinquish  it  in  Cuba,  yet  deny  that  she 
could  cede  it  in  the  Philippines  I "  Finally, 
when  they  tell  you  in  mock  heroics,  appro- 
priated from  the  great  days  of  the  anti- 
slavery  struggle  for  the   cause  now  of  a 

1  General  Carl  Schurz,  at  the  Philadelphia  Anti-Imperial- 
ist Convention,  February  22,  1900. 


A  CONTINENTAL  UNION  215 

pinchbeck  Washington,  that  no  results  of 
the  irrevocable  past  two  years  are  settled, 
that  not  even  the  title  to  our  new  posses- 
sions is  settled,  and  never  will  be  until  it  is 
settled  according  to  their  notions,  you  can 
answer  that  then  the  title  to  Massachusetts 
is  not  settled,  nor  the  title  to  a  square  mile 
of  land  in  most  of  the  States  from  ocean  to 
ocean.  Over  practically  none  of  it  did  we 
assume  sovereignty  by  the  consent  of  the 
inhabitants. 

Quite  possibly  these  controversies  may  Where  is 
embarrass  the  Government  and  threaten  the  1^^^^^^^ 
security  of  the  party  in  power.  New  and 
perplexing  responsibilities  often  do  that. 
But  is  it  to  the  interest  of  the  sincere  and 
patriotic  among  the  discontented  to  produce 
either  result?  The  one  thing  sure  is  that 
no  party  in  power  in  this  country  will  dare 
abandon  these  new  possessions.  That  being 
so,  do  those  of  you  who  regret  it  prefer  to 
lose  all  influence  over  the  outcome  !  While 
you  are  repining  over  what  is  beyond  recall, 
events  are  moving  on.  If  you  do  not  help 
shape  them,  others,  without  your  high  princi- 
ple and  purity  of  motive,  may.  Can  you  won- 
der if,  while  you  are  harassing  the  Adminis- 
tration with  impracticable  demands  for  an 
abandonment  of  territory  which  the  Amer- 
ican people  will  not  let  go,  less  unselfish  in- 


216       PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

fluences  are  busy  presenting  candidates  for 
all  the  offices  in  its  organization  I  If  the 
friends  of  a  proper  civil  service  persist  in 
chasing  the  ignis  fatuus  of  persuading  Amer- 
icans to  throw  away  territory,  while  the 
politicians  are  busy  crowding  their  favorites 
into  the  territorial  offices,  who  will  feel  free 
from  self-reproach  at  the  results?  Grant 
that  the  situation  is  bad.  Can  there  be  a 
doubt  of  the  duty  to  make  the  best  of  it? 
Do  you  ask  how?  By  being  an  active 
patriot,  not  a  passive  one.  By  exerting,  and 
exerting  now  when  it  is  needed,  every  form 
of  influence,  personal,  social,  political,  moral, 
—the  influence  of  the  clubs,  the  Chambers 
of  Commerce,  the  manufactories,  the  colleges, 
and  the  churches,— in  favor  of  the  purest, 
the  ablest,  the  most  scientific,  the  most  dis- 
interested—in a  word,  the  best  possible  civil 
service  for  the  new  possessions  that  the 
conscience  and  the  capacity  of  America  can 
produce,  with  the  most  liberal  use  of  all  the 
material  available  from  native  sources. 

I  HAVE  done.  I  have  no  wish  to  argue,  to 
defend,  or  to  attack.  I  have  sought  only  to 
point  out  what  I  conceive  to  be  the  present 
danger  and  the  present  duty.  It  is  not  to 
be  doubted  that  all  such  considerations  will 
summon  you  to  the  high  resolve  that  you 
will  neither  shame  the  Republic  by  shirking 


A  CONTINENTAL  UNION  217 

the  task  its  own  victory  entails,  nor  despoil 
the  Republic  by  abandoning  its  rightful  pos- 
sessions, nor  degrade  the  Republic  by  ad- 
missions of  unfit  elements  to  its  Union ;  but 
that  you  will  honor  it,  enrich  it,  ennoble  it, 
by  doing  your  utmost  to  make  the  adminis- 
tration of  these  possessions  worthy  of  the 
Nation  that  Washington  founded  and. Lin- 
coln preserved.  My  last  word  is  an  appeal 
to  stand  firm  and  stand  all  together  for  the 
Continental  Union  and  for  a  pure  civil 
service  for  the  Islands. 


OUE  NEW  INTERESTS 


This  address  was  delivered  on  Charter  Day  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  California,  on  March  23,  1900. 


OUR  NEW  INTERESTS 


MY  subject  lias  been  variously  stated  in 
your  different  newspapers  as  "  Current 
National  Questions,"  or  "  The  Present  Na- 
tional Question,"  or  "  General  Expositions ; 
Not  on  Anything  in  Particular."  When  your 
President  honored  me  with  his  invitation  to 
a  duty  so  high  and  so  sudden  that  it  might 
almost  be  dignified  by  the  name  of  a  draft, 
he  gave  me  nearly  equal  license.  I  was  to 
speak  "  on  anything  growing  out  of  the  late 
war  with  Spain." 

How  that  war  resembles  the  grippe  !  You 
remember  the  medical  definition  by  an 
authority  no  less  high  than  our  present 
distinguished  Secretary  of  State.  "The 
grippe,"  said  Colonel  Hay,  "  is  that  disease 
in  which,  after  you  have  been  cured,  you 
get  steadily  worse  every  day  of  your  con- 
valescence"! There  are  people  of  so  little 
faith  as  to  say  that  this  exactly  describes 
the  late  war  with  Spain. 

If  one  is  to  speak  at  all  of  its  present 
aspects,  on  this  high-day  of  your  University 

221 


222       PBOBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

year,  he  should  do  so  only  as  a  patriot,  not 
as  a  partizan.  But  he  cannot  avoid  tread- 
ing on  ground  where  the  ashes  are  yet  warm, 
and  discussing  questions  which,  in  spite  of 
the  present  intermingling  of  party  lines  and 
confusion  of  party  ideas,  will  presently  be 
found  the  very  battle-ground  of  campaign 
oratory  and  hostile  hosts.  You  will  credit 
me,  I  hope,  with  sufficient  respect  for  the 
proprieties  of  this  platform  to  avoid  partizan 
arguments,  under  the  warrant  of  your  dis- 
tinguished President  to  discuss  national 
questions  from  any  point  of  view  that  a 
patriot  can  take.  It  is  profoundly  to  be 
regretted  that  on  these  questions,  which 
pure  patriotism  alone  should  weigh  and 
decide,  mere  partizanship  is  already  grasp- 
ing the  scales.  One  thing  at  least  I  may 
venture  to  promise  before  this  audience  of 
scholars  and  gentlemen  on  this  Charter  Day 
of  your  great  University:  I  shall  ask  the 
Democrat  of  the  present  day  to  agree  with 
me  no  farther  than  Thomas  Jefferson  went, 
and  the  Eepublican  of  the  day  no  farther 
than  Abraham  Lincoln  went.  To  adapt 
from  a  kindred  situation  a  phrase  by  the 
greatest  popular  orator  of  my  native  State, 
and,  I  still  like  to  think,  one  of  the  greatest 
of  the  country  in  this  century, —  a  phrase 
applied  by  him  to  the  compromise  measures 
of  1848,  but  equally  fitting  to-day, — "If  we  are 


OUB  NEW  INTEBESTS  223 

forced  to  part  company  with,  some  here 
whom  it  has  been  our  pleasure  and  pride  to 
follow  in  the  past,  let  us  console  ourselves 
by  the  reflection  that  we  are  following  in 
the  footsteps  of  the  fathers  and  saviors  of 
the  Eepublic,  their  garments  dyed  with  the 
blood'  of  the  Red  Sea,  through  which  they 
led  us  out  of  the  land  of  bondage,  their  locks 
still  moist  with  the  mists  of  the  Jordan, 
across  which  they  brought  us  to  this  land 
of  liberty."! 

Yet,  even  with  those  from  whom  we  must  To  be  Taken 
thus  part  company  there  are  elemental  now?*^*"*^ 
truths  of  the  situation  on  which  we  must 
still  agree.  Some  things  reasonable  men  may 
take  for  granted  —  some  that  surely  have 
been  settled  in  the  conflict  of  arms,  of  diplo- 
macy, and  of  debate  since  the  spring  of  1898. 
Regret  them  if  you  choose,  but  do  not,  like 
children,  seek  to  make  them  as  though  they 
were  not,  by  shutting  your  eyes  to  them. 

The  new  territories  in  the  West  Indies 
and  the  East  are  ours,  to  have  and  to  hold, 
by  the  supreme  law  of  the  land,  and  by  a 
title  which  the  whole  civilized  world  recog- 
nizes and  respects.  We  shall  not  speedily 
get  rid  of  them  —  whoever  may  desire  it. 
The  American  people  are  in  no  mood  to  give 
them  back  to  Spain,  or  to  sell  them,  or  to 

1  Thomas  Corwin  of  Ohio,  in  United  States  Senate,  1848. 


224       PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

abandon  them.  We  have  all  the  power  we 
need  to  acquire  and  to  govern  them.  What- 
ever theories  men  may  quote  from  Mr.  Cal- 
houn or  from  Mr.  Chief  Justice  Taney,  the 
uniform  conduct  of  the  National  Adminis- 
tration throughout  a  century,  under  what- 
ever party,  justifies  the  triumphant  declara- 
tion of  Daniel  Webster  to  Mr.  Calhoun, 
over  half  a  century  ago,  and  the  consenting 
opinions  of  the  courts  for  a  long  term  since, 
down  to  the  very  latest  in  the  line,  by 
your  own  Judge  Morrow,  to  the  effect,  in  a 
word,  that  this  Government,  like  every  other 
one  in  the  world,  has  power  to  acquire  "  ter- 
ritory and  other  property  "  anywhere,  and 
govern  it  as  it  pleases.^ 

1  Over  a  month  after  the  State  Prison  for  life.  Judge 
above  was  delivered  came  the  Loehren  denied  the  writ  on 
first  recent  judicial  expres-  the  ground  that  the  eonvic- 
sion  of  a  contrary  view.  It  tion  took  place  before  the 
was  by  Judge  William  Loch-  Treaty  of  Paris,  by  which 
ren  of  the  United  States  Cir-  Spain  ceded  sovereignty  in 
cuit  Court  at  St.  Paul,  in  the  Porto  Rico  to  the  United 
case  of  habeas  corpus  pro-  States,  had  been  ratified  by 
ceedings  against  Reeve,  war-  the  Senate.  The  Judge  went 
den  of  the  Minnesota  State  on,  however,  to  argue  that 
Prison  at  Stillwater,  for  the  Ortiz  could  not  have  been 
release  of  a  Porto  Rican  lawfully  tried  before  the  Mili- 
named  Ortiz.  He  was  held  tary  Commission  after  the 
for  the  murder  of  a  private  ratification  of  the  treaty, 
soldier  of  the  United  States,  because  the  island  of  Porto 
sentenced  to  death  by  a  Mill-  Rico  thereby  became  an  in- 
tary  Commission  at  San  Juan,  tegral  part  of  the  United 
and,  on  commutation  of  the  States,  subject  to  the  Consti- 
sentence  by  the  President  of  tution  and  privileged  and 
the  United  States,  sent  to  this   bound  by  its  provisions.    As 


OUK  NEW  INTEEESTS  225 

On  these  points  I  make  bold  to  repeat 
what  I  felt  warranted  in  saying  a  fortnight 
ago  within  sight  of  Bunker  Hill  —  that  there 
is  every  evidence  that  the  American  people 
have  distinctly  and  definitely  made  up  their 
minds.  They  have  not  been  persuaded  and 
they  cannot  be  persuaded  that  this  is  an 
inferior  government,  incapable  of  any  duty 
Providence  may  send  its  way  —  duties  which 
other  nations  could  discharge,  but  we  cannot. 
So  I  venture  to  affirm  the  impossibility  that 
any  party  in  power,  whether  the  present  one 
or  its  opponent,  could  soon,  if  ever,  abandon 
one  foot  of  the  territory  gained  in  the  late 
war. 

We  are  gathered  on  another  old  Spanish 
territory  taken  by  our  country  in  war.  It 
shows  what  Americans  do  with  such  acqui- 
sitions. Before  you  expect  to  see  Porto 
Rico  given  back  to  Spain  or  the  Philippines 
abandoned  to  Aguinaldo,  wait  till  we  are 
ready  to  declare,  as  Daniel  Webster  did  in 
the  Senate,  that  this  California  of  your  pride 
and  glory  is  "  not  worth  a  dollar,"  and  throw 

this  point  was  not  involved  It    clearly  shows,    however, 

in  the  case  he  was  deciding,  what  would  he  his  decision 

this  is,  of   course,  merely  a  whenever    the     case    might 

dictum — the    expression    of  come  before  him.    His  argu- 

opinion  on  an  outside  matter  ment    followed    closely    the 

by  a  Democratic  judge  who  lines  taken  by  Mr.  Calhoun 

was  recently  transferred  by  in  the  Senate  and  Mr.  Chief 

Mr.  Cleveland  from  a  Wash-  Justice   Taney  in  the  Dred 

ington  bureau  to  the  bench.  Scott  decision. 

15 


220       PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

back  the  worthless  thing  on  the  hands  of 
unoffending  Mexico.  Till  then,  let  us  as 
practical  and  sensible  men  recognize  that 
what  is  past  is  settled. 

Duty  First;  Thus  far  have  we  come  in  these  strange 
terUt^iUso""  c^^^ses  and  to  these  unexpected  and  unwel- 
come tasks  by  following,  at  each  succeeding 
emergency,  the  path  of  clear,  absolute,  and 
unavoidable  duty.  The  only  point  in  the 
whole  national  line  of  conduct,  from  the 
spring  of  1898  on  to  this  March  morning  of 
1900,  at  which  our  Government  could  have 
stopped  with  honor,  was  at  the  outset.  I, 
for  one,  would  gladly  have  stopped  there. 
How  was  it  then  with  some  at  the  West 
who  are  discontented  now?  Shake  not 
your  gory  locks  at  me  or  at  my  fellow-citi- 
zens in  the  East.  You  cannot  say  we  did 
it.  In  1898,  just  as  a  few  years  earlier  in  the 
debate  about  Venezuela,  the  loudest  calls 
for  a  belligerent  policy  came  not  from  the 
East,  "the  cowardly,  commercial  East,"  as 
we  were  sometimes  described,  but  from  the 
patriotic  and  warlike  West.  The  farther 
West  you  came,  the  louder  the  cry  for  war, 
till  it  reached  its  very  climax  on  what  we 
used  to  call  the  frontier,  and  was  sent  thun- 
dering Eastward  upon  the  National  Capital 
in  rolling  reverberations  from  the  Sierras 
and  the  Rockies  which  few  public  men  cared 


OUR  NEW  INTERESTS  227 

to  defy.  At  that  moment,  perhaps,  if  this 
popular  and  congressional  demand  had  not 
pushed  us  forward,  we  might  have  stopped 
with  honor  —  certainly  not  later.  From 
the  day  war  was  flagrant  down  to  this  hour 
there  has  been  no  forward  step  which  a 
peremptory  national  or  international  obli- 
gation did  not  require.  To  the  mandate 
alone  of  Duty,  stern  daughter  of  the  voice 
of  God,  the  American  people  have  bowed, 
as,  let  us  hope,  they  always  will.  It  is  not 
true  that,  in  the  final  decision  as  to  any  one 
step  in  the  great  movement  hitherto,  our  in- 
terests have  been  first  or  chiefly  considered. 
But  in  all  these  constitutional  discussions 
to  which  we  have  referred,  one  clause  in  the 
Constitution  has  been  curiously  thrust  aside. 
The  framers  placed  it  on  the  very  forefront 
of  the  edifice  they  were  rearing,  and  there 
declared  for  our  instruction  and  guidance 
that  "the  people  do  ordain  and  establish 
this  Constitution  ...  to  promote  the  gen- 
eral welfare."  By  what  right  do  statesmen 
now  venture  to  think  that  they  can  leave 
our  national  interests  out  of  the  account? 
Who  and  where  is  the  sentimentalist  who 
arraigns  us  for  descending  to  too  sordid  a 
level  when  we  recognize  our  interest  to 
hold  what  the  discharge  of  duty  has  placed 
in  our  hand  1  Since  when  has  it  been  states- 
manship to  shut  our  eyes  to  the  interests  of 


928       PKOBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

our  own  country,  and  patriotism  to  consider 
only  the  interests  or  the  wishes  of  others  ? 
For  my  own  part,  I  confess  to  a  belief  in  stand- 
ing up  first  for  my  own,  and  find  it  difficult 
to  cherish  much  respect  for  the  man  who 
won't:  first  for  my  own  family  rather  than 
some  other  man's ;  first  for  my  own  city  and 
State  rather  than  for  somebody  else's ;  first 
for  my  own  country  —  first,  please  God  !  for 
the  United  States  of  America.  And  so,  hav- 
ing in  the  past,  too  fully,  perhaps,  and  more 
than  once,  considered  the  question  of  our  new 
possessions  in  the  light  of  our  duty,  I  propose 
now  to  look  at  them  further,  and  unblush- 
ingly,  in  the  light  of  our  interests. 

TheOidFaith  Which  way  do  your  interests  lie  1    Which 
nians"***'"     ^^J  ^^  ^^®  interests  of  California  and  the 
city  of  San  Francisco  lie  ? 

Three  or  four  days  ago,  when  your  Presi- 
dent honored  me  with  the  summons  I  am 
now  obeying,  there  came  back  to  me  a  vague 
memory  of  the  visions  cherished  by  the  men 
you  rate  the  highest  in  California,  your 
"  Pioneers  "  and  "  Forty-Niners,"  as  to  the 
future  of  the  empire  they  were  founding  on 
this  coast.  There  lingered  in  my  mind  the 
flavor  at  least  of  an  old  response  by  a  Cali- 
fornia public  man  to  the  compliment  a  "  ten- 
derfoot" New-Yorker,  in  the  innocence  of 
his  heart,  had  intended  to  pay,  when  he  said 


OUR  NEW  INTERESTS  229 

that  with  this  splendid  State,  this  glorious 
harbor,  and  the  Pacific  Ocean,  you  have  all 
the  elements  to  build  up  here  the  New  York 
of  the  West.  The  substance  of  the  Cali- 
fornian's  reply  was  that,  through  mere  lack 
of  knowledge  of  the  country  to  which  he  be- 
longed, the  well-meaning  New-Yorker  had 
greatly  underrated  the  future  that  awaited 
San  Francisco  —  that  long  before  Macaulay's 
New-Zealander  had  transferred  himself  from 
the  broken  arches  of  London  Bridge  to  those 
of  Brooklyn,  it  would  be  the  pride  and  boast 
of  the  denizens  of  those  parts  that  New  York 
had  held  its  own  so  finely  as  still  to  be  fairly 
called  the  San  Francisco  of  the  East ! 

While  the  human  memory  is  the  most 
tenacious  and  nearest  immortal  of  all  things 
known  to  us,  it  is  also  at  times  the  most 
elusive.  Even  with  the  suggestions  of  Mr. 
Hittell  and  the  friendly  files  of  the  Mechan- 
ics' Library,  I  did  not  succeed  in  finding  that 
splendid  example  of  San  Francisco  faith 
which  my  memory  had  treasured.  Yet  I 
found  some  things  not  very  unlike  it  to  show 
what  manner  of  men  they  were  that  laid  the 
foundations  of  this  commonwealth  on  the 
Pacific,  what  high  hopes  sustained  them, 
and  what  radiant  future  they  confidently 
anticipated. 

Here,  for  example,  was  Mr.  William  A. 
Howard,  whom  I  found  declaring,  not  quite 


230       PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

a  third  of  a  century  ago,  that  San  Francisco 
would  yet  be  the  largest  American  city  on  the 
largest  ocean  in  the  world.  At  least,  so  he  is 
reported  in  "  The  Bulletin »»  and  "  The  Call," 
though  "The  Alta"  puts  it  with  an  "if,'^  its 
report  reading :  "  If  the  development  of  com- 
merce require  that  the  largest  ocean  shall 
have  the  largest  city,  then  it  would  follow 
that  as  the  Atlantic  is  smaller  than  the  Pa- 
cific, so  in  the  course  of  years  New  York  will 
be  smaller  than  San  Francisco." 

And  here,  again,  was  Mr.  Delos  Lake,  main- 
taining that  the  "  United  States  is  now  on  a 
level  with  the  most  favored  nations;  that 
its  geographical  position,  its  line  of  palatial 
steamers  established  on  the  Pacific  Ocean  by 
American  enterprise,  and  soon  to  be  followed 
by  ocean  telegraphs,  must  before  long  render 
this  continent  the  proper  avenue  of  com- 
merce between  Europe  and  Asia,  and  raise 
this  metropolis  of  the  Pacific  to  the  loftiest 
height  of  monetary  power." 

There  was  a  reason,  too,  widely  held  by 
the  great  men  of  the  day,  whose  names  have 
passed  into  history,  for  some  such  faith. 
Thus  an  old  Californian  of  high  and  happy 
fame,  Major-General  Henry  W.  Halleck, 
speaking  of  San  Francisco,  said :  "  Standing 
here  on  the  extreme  Western  verge  of  the 
Republic,  overlooking  the  coast  of  Asia  and 
occupying  the  future  center  of  trade  and 


OUR  NEW  INTERESTS  231 

commerce  of  the  two  worlds,  ...  if  that 
civilization  which  so  long  has  moved  west- 
ward with  the  Star  of  Empire  is  now,  puri- 
fied by  the  principles  of  true  Christianity,  to 
go  on  around  the  world  until  it  reaches  the 
place  of  its  origin  and  makes  the  Orient 
blossom  again  with  its  benign  influences, 
San  Francisco  must  be  made  the  abutment, 
and  International  Law  the  bridge,  by  which 
it  will  cross  the  Pacific  Ocean.  The  enter- 
prise of  the  merchants  of  California  has 
already  laid  the  foundation  of  the  abut- 
ments ;  diplomacy  and  steam  and  telegraph 
companies  are  rapidly  accumulating  material 
for  the  construction  of  the  bridge."  Thus 
far  Halleck.  But  have  the  Californians  of 
this  generation  abandoned  the  bridge  ?  Are 
we  to  believe  those  men  of  to-day  who  tell 
us  it  is  not  worth  crossing  I 

Here,  again,  was  Eugene  Casserly,  speak- 
ing of  right  for  the  California  Democracy  of 
that  date.  Writing  with  deliberation  more 
than  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago,  he  said: 
"  We  expect  to  stand  on  equal  grounds  with 
the  most  favored  of  nations.  We  ask  no 
more  in  the  contest  for  that  Eastern  trade 
which  has  always  heretofore  been  thought 
to  carry  with  it  the  commercial  supremacy 
of  the  globe.  America  asks  only  a  fair  field, 
even  as  against  her  oldest  and  most  formi- 
dable rivals.  Nature,  and  our  position  as  the 


232       PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

nearest  neighbors  to  eastern  Asia,  separated 
from  her  only  by  the  great  highways  of  the 
ocean,  have  placed  in  our  hands  all  the  ad- 
vantages that  we  need.  .  .  .  Favored  by 
vicinity,  by  soil  and  climate  on  our  own  ter- 
ritory, with  a  people  inferior  to  none  in  en- 
terprise and  vigor,  without  any  serious  rivals 
anywhere,  all  this  Pacific  coast  is  ours  or  is 
our  tributary.  .  .  .  We  hold  as  ours  the 
great  ocean  that  so  lately  rolled  in  solitary 
grandeur  from  the  equator  to  the  pole.  In 
the  changes  certain  to  be  effected  in  the  cur- 
rents of  finance,  of  exchange,  and  of  trade, 
by  the  telegraph  and  the  railroads,  bringing 
the  financial  centers  of  Europe  and  of  the 
United  States  by  way  of  San  Francisco 
within  a  few  weeks  of  the  ports  of  China  anS 
of  the  East,  San  Francisco  must  become  at 
no  distant  day  the  banker,  the  factor,  and 
the  carrier  of  the  trade  of  eastern  Asia  and 
the  Pacific,  to  an  extent  to  which  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  assign  limits."  Are  the  people  now 
lacking  in  the  enterprise  and  vigor  which 
Mr.  Casserly  claimed  for  them?  Have  the 
limits  he  scorned  been  since  assigned,  and 
do  the  Californians  of  to-day  assent  to  the 
restriction  ? 

Take  yet  another  name,  treasured,  I 
know,  on  the  roll  of  California's  most  wor- 
thy servants,  another  Democrat.  Grovernor 
Haight,  only  a  third  of  a  century  ago,  said : 


OUE  NEW  INTERESTS  233 

"  I  see  in  the  near  future  a  vast  com- 
merce springing  up  between  the  Chinese 
Empire  and  the  nations  of  the  West ;  an  in- 
terchange of  products  and  manufactures 
mutually  beneficial ;  the  watchword  of  prog- 
ress and  the  precepts  of  a  pure  religion  ut- 
tered to  the  ears  of  a  third  of  the  human 
race."  And  addressing  some  representatives 
of  that  vast  region,  he  added,  with  a  burst 
of  fine  confidence  in  the  supremacy  of  San 
Francisco's  position  :  "  As  Chief  Magistrate 
of  this  Western  State  of  the  Nation,  I  wel- 
come you  to  the  territory  of  the  Eepublic, 
...  in  no  selfish  or  narrow  spirit,  either  of 
personal  advantage  or  seeking  exclusive 
privileges  for  our  own  over  the  other  na- 
tions ;  and  so,  in  the  name  of  commerce,  of 
civilization,  of  progress,  of  humanity,  and 
of  religion,  on  behalf  not  merely  of  Califor- 
nia or  America,  but  of  Europe  and  of  man- 
kind, I  bid  you  and  your  associates  welcome 
and  God-speed." 

Perhaps  this  may  be  thought  merely  an 
exuberant  hospitality.  Let  me  quote,  then, 
from  the  same  man,  speaking  again  as  the 
Governor  of  the  State,  at  the  Capitol  of  the 
State,  in  the  most  careful  oration  of  his  life : 
"  What  shall  be  said  of  the  future  of  Califor- 
nia ?  Lift  your  eyes  and  expand  your  con- 
ceptions to  take  in  the  magnitude  of  her 
destiny.    An  empire  in  area,  presenting  ad- 


234       PKOBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

vantages  and  attractions  to  the  people  of  the 
Eastern  States  and  Europe  far  beyond  those 
presented  by  any  other  State  or  Territory  — 
who  shall  set  limits  to  her  progress,  or  paint 
in  fitting  colors  the  splendor  of  her  future  ? 
.  .  .  Mismanagement  may  at  times  retard 
her  progress,  but  if  the  people  of  California 
are  true  to  themselves,  this  State  is  destined 
to  a  high  position,  not  only  among  her  sister 
States,  but  among  the  commonwealths  of 
the  world,  .  .  .  when  her  ships  visit  every 
shore,  and  her  merchant  princes  control  the 
commerce  of  the  great  ocean  and  the  popu- 
lous countries  upon  its  borders/' 

Was  Governor  Haight  alone,  or  was  he  in 
advance  of  his  time  !  Go  yet  farther  back, 
to  the  day  when  Judge  Nathaniel  Bennett 
was  assigned  by  the  people  of  San  Francisco 
to  the  task  of  delivering  the  oration  when 
'  they  celebrated  the  admission  of  California 
into  the  Union,  on  October  29, 1850 :  "  Judg- 
ing from  the  past,  what  have  we  not  a  right 
to  expect  in  the  future?  The  world  has 
never  witnessed  anything  equal  or  similar 
to  our  career  hitherto.  .  .  .  Our  State  is  a 
marvel  to  ourselves,  and  a  miracle  to  the 
rest  of  the  world.  Nor  is  the  influence  of 
California  confined  within  her  own  borders. 
.  .  .  The  islands  nestled  in  the  embrace  of 
the  Pacific  have  felt  the  quickening  breath  of 
her  enterprise.  .  ,  .  She  has  caused  the  hum 


OUR  NEW  INTERESTS  235 

of  busy  life  to  be  heard  in  the  wilderness 
where  rolls  the  Oregon,  and  where  until  re- 
cently was  heard  no  sound  save  his  own 
dashings.  Even  the  wall  of  Chinese  exclu- 
siveness  has  been  broken  down,  and  the 
children  of  the  Sun  have  come  forth  to  view 
the  splendors  of  her  achievements.  ...  It 
is  all  but  a  foretaste  of  the  future.  .  .  .  The 
world's  trade  is  destined  soon  to  be  changed. 
.  .  .  The  commerce  of  Asia  and  the  islands 
of  the  Pacific,  instead  of  pursuing  the  ocean 
track  by  the  way  of  Cape  Horn  or  the  Cape 
of  Good  Hope,  or  even  taking  the  shorter 
route  of  the  Isthmus  of  Darien  or  the  Isth- 
mus of  Tehuantepec,  will  enter  the  Golden 
Gate  of  California  and  deposit  its  riches  in 
the  lap  of  our  city.  .  .  .  New  York  will  then 
become  what  London  now  is  —  the  great 
central  point  of  exchange,  the  heart  of 
trade,  the  force  of  whose  contraction  and* 
expansion  will  be  felt  throughout  every 
artery  of  the  commercial  world;  and  San 
Francisco  will  then  stand  the  second  city  of 
America.  .  .  .  The  responsibility  rests  upon 
us  whether  this  first  American  State  of  the 
Pacific  shall  in  youth  and  ripe  manhood 
realize  the  promise  of  infancy.  We  may 
cramp  her  energies  and  distort  her  form,  or 
we  may  make  her  a  rival  even  of  the  Empire 
State  of  the  Atlantic.  The  best  wishes  of 
Americans  are  with  us.    They  expect  that 


236  PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

the  Herculean  youth  will  grow  to  a  Titan  in 
his  manhood." 

Nor  was  even  Judge  Bennett  the  pioneer 
of  such  ideas.  Long  before  he  spoke,  or  be- 
fore the  Stars  and  Stripes  had  been  raised 
over  Yerbabuena,  as  far  back  as  in  1835, 
the  English  people  and  the  British  Govern- 
ment had  been  advised  by  Alexander  Forbes 
that  "  The  situation  of  California  for  inter- 
course with  other  countries  and  its  capacity 
for  commerce  —  should  it  ever  be  possessed 
by  a  numerous  and  industrious  population 
—  are  most  favorable.  The  port  of  San 
Francisco  for  size  and  safety  is  hardly  sur- 
passed by  any  in  the  world ;  it  is  so  situated 
as  to  be  made  the  center  of  the  commercial 
relations  which  may  take  place  between  Asia 
and  the  western  coast  of  America.  .  .  .  The 
vessels  of  the  Spanish  Philippines  Company 
on  their  passage  from  Manila  to  San  Bias  and 
Acapulco  generally  called  at  Monterey  for  re- 
freshments and  orders.  .  .  .  Thus  it  appears  as 
if  California  was  designed  by  nature  to  be  the 
medium  of  connecting  commercially  Asia 
with  America,  and  as  the  depot  of  the  trade 
between  these  two  vast  continents,  which 
possess  the  elements  of  unbounded  commer- 
cial interchange ;  the  one  overflowing  with 
all  the  rich  and  luxurious  commodities  al- 
ways characteristic  of  the  East,  the  other 
possessing  a  superabundance  of  the  precious 


OUK  NEW  INTEEESTS  237 

metals  and  other  valuable  products  to  give 
in  exchange.  ...  If  ever  a  route  across  the 
Isthmus  shall  be  opened,  California  will  then 
be  one  of  the  most  interesting  commercial  sit- 
uations in  the  world ;  it  would  in  that  case 
be  the  rendezvous  for  all  vessels  engaged  in 
the  trade  between  Europe  and  Asia  by  that 
route.  It  is  nearly  mid-voyage  between 
these  two  countries,  and  would  furnish  pro- 
visions and  all  naval  supplies  in  the  most 
ample  abundance,  and  most  probably  would 
become  a  mart  for  the  interchaoge  of  the 
commodities  of  the  three  continents." 

Let  no  man  fancy  that  these  sometimes  ex-  Has  the 
uberant  expressions  of  a  noble  and  far-seeing  ^eart  and* 
faith  by  your  own  predecessors  and  by  a  Shriveled? 
prescient  foreigner  have  been  revived  in  de- 
rision or  even  in  doubt.  Those  were  the 
days  when,  if  some  were  for  a  party,  at  any 
rate  all  were  for  the  State.  These  were  great 
men,  far-seeing,  courageous,  patriotic,  the 
men  of  Forty-nine,  who  in  such  lofty  spirit 
and  with  such  high  hope  laid  the  foundation 
of  this  empire  on  the  Pacific.  Distance  did 
not  disturb  them,  nor  difficulties  discourage. 
There  sits  on  your  platform  to-day  a  man 
who  started  from  New  York  to  California  by 
what  he  thought  the  quickest  route  in  De- 
cember, 1848 ;  went  south  from  the  Isthmus 
as  the  only  means  of  catching  a  ship  for  the 


238  PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

north,  and  finally  entered  this  harbor,  by  the 
way  of  Chile,  in  June,  1849.  He  could  go 
now  to  Manila  thrice  over  and  back  in  less 
time.  And  yet  there  are  Californians  of  this 
day  who  profess  to  shrink  in  alarm  from  the 
remoteness  and  inaccessibility  of  our  new 
possessions !  Has  the  race  shriveled  under 
these  summer  skies  ?  Has  it  grown  old  be- 
fore its  time ;  is  its  natural  strength  abated  ? 
Are  the  old  energy  and  the  old  courage 
gone  ?  Has  the  soul  of  this  people  shrunk 
within  them  I  Or  is  it  only  that  there  are 
strident  voices  from  California,  sounding 
across  the  Sierras  and  the  Rockies,  that  mis- 
represent and  shame  a  State  whose  sons  are 
not  unworthy  of  their  fathers  ? 

The  arm  of  the  Californian  has  not  been 
shortened,  that  he  cannot  reach  out.  The 
salt  has  not  left  him,  that  he  cannot  occupy 
and  possess  the  great  ocean  that  the  Lord 
has  given  him.  Nor  has  he  forgotten  the 
lesson  taught  by  the  history  of  his  own  race 
(and  of  the  greatest  nations  of  the  world), 
that  oceans  no  longer  separate — they  unite. 
There  are  no  protracted  and  painful  strug- 
gles to  build  a  Pacific  railroad  for  your  next 
great  step.  The  right  of  way  is  assured,  the 
grading  is  done,  the  rails  are  laid.  You 
have  but  to  buy  your  rolling-stock  at  the 
Union  Iron  Works,  draw  up  your  time-table, 
and  begin  business.     Or  do  you  think  it 


OUE  NEW  INTERESTS  239 

better  that  your  Pacific  railroad  should  end 
in  the  air  ?  Is  a  six-thousand-mile  extension 
to  a  through  line  worthless!  Can  your 
Scott  shipyards  only  turn  out  men-of-war  f 
Can  your  Senator  Perkins  only  run  ships 
that  creep  along  the  coast  1  Is  the  broad 
ocean  too  deep  for  him  or  too  wide  1 

Contiguous  land  gives  a  nation  cohesion;  NewFieWs 
but  it  is  the  water  that  brings  other  nations  ?o"Ahem!^^** 
near.  The  continent  divides  you  from  cus- 
tomers beyond  the  mountains;  but  the 
ocean  unites  you  with  the  whole  boundless, 
mysterious  Orient.  There  you  find  a  popu- 
lation of  over  six  hundred  millions  of  souls, 
between  one  fourth  and  one  third  of  the  in- 
habitants of  the  globe.  You  are  not  at  a 
disadvantage  in  trading  with  them  because 
they  have  the  start  of  you  in  manufactures 
or  skill  or  capital,  as  you  would  be  in  the 
countries  to  which  the  Atlantic  leads.  They 
oifer  you  the  best  of  all  commerce — that  with 
people  less  advanced,  exchanging  the  prod- 
ucts of  different  zones,  a  people  awakening 
to  the  complex  wants  of  a  civilization  that 
is  just  stirring  them  to  a  new  life. 

Have  you  considered  what  urgent  need 
there  will  be  for  those  new  fields  !  It  is  no 
paltry  question  of  an  outlet  for  the  surplus 
products  of  a  mere  nation  of  seventy-five 
millions  that  confronts  you.     Your  mathe- 


240       PROBLEMS  OP  EXPANSION 

matical  professors  will  tell  you  that,  at  the 
ratio  of  increase  established  in  this  Nation 
by  the  census  returns  for  the  century  just 
closing,  its  population  would  amount  during 
the  next  century  to  the  bewildering  and  in- 
comprehensible figure  of  twelve  hundred 
millions.  The  ratio,  of  course,  will  not  be 
maintained,  since  the  exceptional  circum- 
stances that  caused  it  cannot  continue.  But 
no  one  gives  reasons  why  it  should  not  be 
half  as  great.  Suppose  it  to  turn  out  only 
one  fourth  as  great.  Is  it  the  part  of  states- 
manship —  is  it  even  the  part  of  every-day, 
matter-of-fact  common  sense  —  to  reject  or 
despise  these  Oriental  openings  for  the  prod- 
ucts of  this  people  of  three  hundred  million 
souls  the  Twentieth  Century  would  need  to 
nourish  within  our  borders  ?  Our  total  an- 
nual trade  with  China  now  —  with  this  cus- 
tomer whom  the  friendly  ocean  is  ready  to 
bring  to  your  very  doors  —  is  barely  twenty 
millions.  That  would  be  a  commerce  of  the 
gross  amount  of  six  and  two  third  cents  for 
each  inhabitant  of  our  country  in  the  next 
century,  with  that  whole  vast  region  adjoin- 
ing you,  wherein  dwell  one  fourth  of  the 
human  race ! 

Even  the  Spanish  trade  with  the  Philip- 
pines was  thirty  millions.  They  are  merely 
our  stepping-stone.  But  would  a  wise  man 
kick  the  stepping-stone  away ! 


OUR  NEW  INTERESTS  241 

San  Francisco  is  exceptionally  prosperous  The  New 
now.  So  is  the  State  of  California.  Why?  «'««^  P^"* 
Partly,  no  doubt,  because  you  are  sharing 
the  prosperity  which  blesses  the  whole  coun- 
try. But  is  that  all !  What  is  this  increase 
in  the  shipping  at  your  wharves?  What 
was  the  meaning  of  those  crowded  columns 
of  business  statistics  your  newspapers 
proudly  printed  last  New  Year's  ? —  what  the 
significance  of  the  increase  in  exports  and 
imports,  far  beyond  mere  army  require- 
ments ?  Why  is  every  room  taken  in  your 
big  buildings?  What  has  crowded  your 
docks,  filled  your  streets,  quickened  your 
markets,  rented  your  stores  and  dwellings, 
sent  all  this  new  blood  pulsing  through 
your  veins  —  made  you  like  the  worn  Eiche- 
lieu  when,  in  that  moment,  there  entered 
his  spent  veins  the  might  of  France  ? 

Was  it  the  rage  you  have  witnessed  among 
some  of  your  own  leaders  against  everything 
that  has  been  done  during  the  past  two 
years  —  the  warning  against  everything  that 
is  about  to  be  done  ?  Was  it  the  proof  of 
our  un worthiness  and  misdeeds,  to  which  we 
all  penitentially  listened,  as  so  eloquently 
set  forth  from  the  high  places  of  light  and 
leading  —  the  long  lamentation  over  how  on 
almost  every  field  we  had  shown  our  inca- 
pacity ;  how  unfit  we  were  to  govern  cities, 
unfit  to  govern  territories,  unfit  to  govern 

16 


242  PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

Indians,  unfit  to  govern  ourselves  —  how,  in 
good  old  theological  phrase,  we  were  from 
head  to  foot  a  mass  of  national  wounds  and 
bruises  and  putrefying  sores,  and  there  was 
no  health  in  us  ?  Was  it  the  demonstration 
that  what  we  needed  was  to  sit  under  the 
live-oaks  and  "  develop  the  individual  man," 
nor  dare  to  look  beyond  ?  Was  it  the  f  orget- 
fulness  that  muscles  grow  strong  only  with 
exercise;  that  it  is  the  duties  of  manhood 
that  take  the  acrid  humors  out  of  a  youth's 
blood ;  that  it  is  great  responsibility,  man- 
fully met,  not  cowardly  evaded,  that  sobers 
and  steadies  and  ennobles  ? 

Some  one  has  lately  been  quoting  Lincoln's 
phrase,  "  We  cannot  escape  history."  It  is  a 
noble  and  inspiring  thought.  Most  of  us  dare 
not  look  for  a  separate  appearance  at  that 
greatest  of  human  bars  —  may  hope  only  to 
be  reckoned  in  bulk  with  the  multitude. 
But  even  so,  however  it  may  be  with  others 
on  this  coast,  I,  for  one,  want  to  be  counted 
with  those  who  had  faith  in  my  country- 
men ;  who  did  not  think  them  incapable  of 
tasks  which  duty  imposed  and  to  which  other 
nations  had  been  equal;  who  did  not  dis- 
parage their  powers  or  distrust  their  honest 
intentions  or  urge  them  to  refuse  their  op- 
portunities ;  to  be  counted  with  those  who  at 
least  had  open  eyes  when  they  stood  in  the 
Golden  Gate ! 


OUB  NEW  INTERESTS  243 

I  DO  not  doubt  —  you  do  not  doubt  —  they  Wards  or 
are  the  majority.  They  will  prevail.  What  partners. 
Duty  requires  us  to  take,  an  enlightened  re- 
gard for  our  own  interests  will  require  us  to 
hold.  The  islands  will  not  be  thrown  away. 
The  American  people  have  made  up  their 
minds  on  that  point,  if  on  nothing  else. 

Well,  then,  how  shall  the  islands  be 
treated !  Are  they  to  be  our  wards,  objects 
of  our  duty  and  our  care ;  or  are  they  to  be 
our  full  partners  ?  We  may  as  well  look  that 
question  straight  in  the  face.  There  is  no 
way  around  it,  or  over  or  under  or  out  of 
it ;  and  no  way  of  aimlessly  and  helplessly 
shuffling  it  off  on  the  future,  for  it  presses  in 
the  legislation  of  Congress  to-day.  Wards, 
flung  on  our  hands  by  the  shipwreck  of 
Spain,  helpless,  needy,  to  be  cared  for  and 
brought  up  and  taught  to  stand  alone  as  far 
as  they  can  ;  or  full  partners  with  us  in  the 
government  and  administration  of  the  price- 
less heritage  of  our  fathers,  the  peerless  Re- 
public of  the  world  and  of  all  the  centuries 
—  that  is  the  question ! 

Men  often  say  —  I  have  even  heard  it 
within  a  week  on  this  coast  —  that  all  this  is 
purely  imaginary ;  that  nobody  favors  their 
admission  as  States.  Let  us  see.  An  ounce 
of  fact  in  a  matter  of  such  moment  is  worth 
tons  of  random  denial.  Within  the  month  a 
distinguished  and  experienced  United  States 


244       PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

Senator  from  the  North  has  announced  that 
he  sees  no  reason  why  Porto  Rico  should  not 
be  a  State.  Within  the  same  period  one  of 
the  leading  religious  journals  of  the  conti- 
nent has  declared  that  it  would  be  a  selfish 
and  brutal  tyranny  that  would  exclude  Porto 
Rico  from  Statehood.  Only  a  few  weeks 
earlier  one  of  our  ablest  generals,  now  com- 
manding a  department  in  one  of  our  depen- 
dencies, a  laureled  hero  of  two  wars,  has 
officially  reported  to  the  Government  in 
favor  of  steps  for  the  admission  of  Cuba  as  a 
State.  On  every  hand  rise  cries  that  in  any 
event  they  cannot  and  must  not  be  depen- 
dencies. Some  of  these  are  apparently  for 
mere  partizan  effect,  but  others  are  the 
obvious  promptings  of  a  sincere  and  high- 
minded,  however  mistaken,  conviction. 

I  shall  venture,  then,  to  consider  it  as  a 
real  and  not  an  abstract  question, —  "aca- 
demic," I  think  it  is  the  fad  of  these  later 
days  to  say, —  and  I  propose  again  (and 
again  unblushingly)  to  consider  it  from  what 
has  been  called  a  low  and  sordid  point  of 
view  —  so  low,  in  fact,  so  unworthy  the  re- 
spect of  latter-day  altruistic  philosophers, 
that  it  merely  concerns  the  interests  of  our 
country ! 

For  I  take  it  that  if  there  is  one  subject 
on  which  this  Union  has  a  right  to  consult 
its  own  interests  and  inclinations,  it  is  on 


OUR  NEW  INTERESTS  245 

the  question  of  admitting  new  States,  or  of 
putting  territory  in  a  position  where  it  can 
ever  claim  or  expect  admission ;  just  as  the 
one  subject  on  which  nobody  disputes  the 
right  of  a  mercantile  firm  to  follow  its  own 
inclinations  is  on  that  of  taking  in  some  un- 
fortunate business  man  as  a  partner ;  or  the 
right  of  an  individual  to  follow  his  own  in- 
clinations about  marrying  some  needy  spin- 
ster he  may  have  felt  it  a  duty  to  befriend. 
Because  they  are  helpless  and  needy  and  on 
our  hands,  must  we  take  them  into  partner- 
ship ?  Because  we  are  going  to  help  them, 
are  we  bound  to  marry  them  ? 

Partly  through  mere  inadvertence,  but  The 
partly  also  through  crafty  design,  the  wave  oJ^g^tion  *" 
of  generous  sympathy  for  the  suffering  little 
island  of  Porto  Eico  which  has  been  sweep- 
ing over  the  country  has  come  very  near 
being  perverted  into  the  means  of  turning 
awry  the  policy  and  permanent  course  of 
a  great  Nation.  To  relieve  the  temporary 
distress  by  recognizing  the  Porto  Eicans  as 
citizens,  and  by  an  extension  of  the  Dingley 
tariff  to  Porto  Eico  as  a  matter  of  constitu- 
tional right,  foreclosed  the  whole  question. 

I  know  it  is  said,  plausibly  enough,  in 
some  quarters,  that  Congress  cannot  fore- 
close the  question, —  has  nothing  to  do  with 
it,  in  fact, —  but  that  it  is  a  matter  to  be  set- 


246       PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

tied  only  by  the  Supreme  Law  of  the  land, 
of  which  Congress  is  merely  the  servant. 
The  point  need  not  be  disputed.  But  it  is 
an  unquestioned  part  of  the  Supreme  Law 
of  the  land,  as  authoritative  within  its  sphere 
and  as  binding  as  any  clause  in  the  Consti- 
tution itself,  which  declares,  in  the  duly 
ratified  Treaty  of  Paris,  that  the  whole 
question  of  the  civil  rights  and  political 
status  of  the  inhabitants  in  this  newly  ac- 
quired property  of  ours  shall  be  reserved  for 
the  decision  of  Congress!  Let  those  who 
invoke  the  Supreme  Law  of  the  land  learn 
and  bow  to  it. 

As  to  the  mere  duty  of  prompt  and  ample 
relief  for  the  distress  in  Porto  Eico,  there  is 
happily  not  a  shade  of  difference  of  opinion 
among  the  seventy-five  millions  of  our  in- 
habitants. Nor  was  the  free-trade  remedy, 
so  vehemently  recommended,  important 
enough  in  itself  to  provoke  serious  objection 
or  delay.  Cynical  observers  might  find,  in- 
deed, a  gentle  amusement  in  noting  how  in 
the  name  of  humanity  the  blessings  of  free 
trade  were  invoked  by  means  of  the  demand 
for  an  immediate  application  of  the  highest 
protective  tariff  known  to  the  history  of 
economics !  The  very  men  who  denounce 
this  tariff  as  a  Chinese  wall  are  the  men  who 
demand  its  application.  They  say,  "Grive 
Porto  Rico  free  trade,"  but  what  their  pro- 


OUE  NEW  INTERESTS  247 

posal  means  is,  "  Deprive  Porto  Eico  of  free 
trade,  and  put  her  within  the  barbarous 
Chinese  wall."  Their  words  sound  like  of- 
fering her  the  liberty  of  trade  with  all  the 
world,  but  mean  forbidding  her  to  trade 
with  anybody  except  the  United  States. 

The  importance  of  the  question  from  an  importance 
economic  point  of  view  has  been  ludicrously  QuggJion. 
exaggerated  on  both  sides.  The  original 
prosposal  would  have  in  itself  done  far  less 
harm  than  its  opponents  imagined  and  far 
less  good  than  its  supporters  hoped.  Yet  to 
the  extent  of  its  influence  it  would  have  been 
a  step  backward.  It  would  have  been  the 
rejection  of  the  modern  and  scientific  colo- 
nial method,  and  the  adoption  instead  of 
the  method  which  has  resulted  in  the  most 
backward,  the  least  productive,  and  the 
least  prosperous  colonies  in  the  world  —  the 
method,  in  a  word,  of  Spain  herself.  For 
the  Spanish  tariff,  in  fact,  made  with  some 
little  reference  to  colonial  interests,  we 
should  merely  have  substituted  our  own 
tariff,  made  with  sole  reference  to  our  own 
interests.  A  more  distinct  piece  of  black- 
smith work  in  economic  legislation  for  a 
helpless,  lonely  little  island  in  the  mid- At- 
lantic could  not  well  be  imagined.  What 
had  poor  Porto  Rico  done,  that  she  should 
be  fenced  in  from  all  the  Old  World  by  an 


248       PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

elaborate  and  highly  complicated  system  of 
duties  upon  imports,  calculated  to  protect 
the  myriad  varying  manufactures  and  main- 
tain the  high  wages  of  this  vast  new  con- 
tinent, and  as  little  adapted  to  Porto  Rico's 
simple  needs  as  is  a  Jorgensen  repeater  for 
the  uses  of  a  kitchen  clock?  Why  at  the 
same  stroke  must  she  be  crushed,  as  she 
would  have  been  if  the  Constitution  were 
extended  to  her,  by  a  system  of  internal 
taxation,  which  we  ourselves  prefer  to  regard 
as  highly  exceptional,  on  tobacco,  on  tobacco- 
dealers,  on  bank-checks,  on  telegraph  and 
telephone  messages,  on  bills  of  lading,  bills 
of  exchange,  leases,  mortgages,  life-insurance, 
passenger  tickets,  medicines,  legacies,  inheri- 
tances, mixed  flour,  and  so  on  and  so  on, 
ad  infinitum,  ad  nauseam  ?  Did  she  deserve 
so  badly  of  us  that,  even  in  a  hurry,  we 
should  do  this  thing  to  her  in  the  name  of 
humanity  ? 

All  the  English-speaking  world,  outside 
some  members  of  the  United  States  Congress 
perhaps,  long  since  found  a  more  excellent 
way.  It  is  simplicity  itself.  It  legislates 
for  a  community  like  Porto  Rico  with  refer- 
ence to  the  situation  and  wants  of  that  com- 
munity—  not  with  reference  to  somebody 
else.  It  applies  to  Porto  Rico  a  system  de- 
vised for  Porto  Rico  —  not  one  devised  for 
a  distant  and  vastly  larger  country,  with 


OUR  NEW  INTERESTS  249 

totally  different  situation  and  wants.  It 
makes  no  effort  to  exploit  Porto  Eico  for 
the  benefit  of  another  country.  It  does 
make  a  studied  and  scientific  effort  from  the 
Porto  E/ico  point  of  view  (not  from  that  of 
temporary  Spanish  holders  of  the  present 
stocks  of  Porto  Rican  products)  to  see  what 
system  will  impose  the  lightest  burdens  and 
bring  the  greatest  benefits  on  Porto  Rico 
herself.  The  result  of  that  conscientious 
inquiry  may  be  the  discovery  that  the  very 
best  thing  to  provide  for  the  wants  and  pro- 
mote the  prosperity  of  that  little  community 
out  in  the  Atlantic  Ocean  is  to  bestow  upon 
them  the  unmixed  boon  of  the  high  protec- 
tive Dingley  tariff  devised  for  the  United 
States  of  America.  If  so,  give  them  the 
Dingley  tariff,  and  give  it  straight.  If,  on 
the  other  hand,  it  should  be  found  that  a 
lower  and  simpler  revenue  system,  better 
adapted  to  a  community  which  has  practi- 
cally no  manufactures  to  protect,  with  free- 
dom to  trade  on  equal  terms  with  all  the 
world,  would  impose  upon  them  lighter  bur- 
dens and  bring  them  greater  benefits,  then 
give  them  that.  If  it  should  be  further 
found  that,  following  this,  such  a  system  of 
reciprocal  rebates  as  both  Cuba  and  the 
United  States  thought  mutually  advanta- 
geous in  the  late  years  of  Spanish  rule, 
would  be  useful  to  Porto  Rico,  then  give 


250       PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

them  that.  But,  in  any  case,  the  starting- 
point  should  be  the  needs  of  Porto  Rico  her- 
self, intelligently  studied  and  conscientiously 
met  —  not  the  blacksmith's  offhand  attempt 
to  fit  on  her  head,  like  a  rusty  iron  pot,  an 
old  system  made  for  other  needs,  other  in- 
dustries, a  distant  land,  and  another  people. 
And  beyond  and  above  all,  give  her  the 
best  system  for  her  situation  and  wants, 
whether  it  be  our  Dingley  tariff  or  some 
other,  because  it  is  the  best  for  her  and  is 
therefore  our  duty  —  not  because  it  is  ours, 
and  therefore,  under  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  her  right  and  her  fate.  The 
admission  of  that  ill-omened  and  unfounded 
claim  would  be,  at  the  bar  of  politics,  a 
colossal  blunder ;  at  the  bar  of  patriotism,  a 
colossal  crime. 

Political  The  politics  of  it  need  not  greatly  concern 
Constftu-***^  this  audience  or  long  detain  you. 
tiooai  Claim.  But  the  facts  are  interesting.  If  Porto 
Rico,  instead  of  belonging  to  us,  is  a  part  of 
us,  so  are  the  Philippines.  Our  title  to  each 
is  exactly  the  same.  So  are  Guam  and  the 
Sandwich  Islands,  if  not  also  Samoa ;  and 
so  will  be  Cuba  if  she  comes,  or  any  other 
West  India  Island. 

First,  then,  you  are  proposing  to  open  the 
ports  of  the  United  States  directly  to  the 
tropical  products  of  the  two  greatest  archi- 


OUE  NEW  INTEEESTS  251 

pelagos  of  the  world,  and  indirectly, 
through  the  Open  Door  we  have  pledged  in 
the  Philippines,  to  all  the  products  of  all 
the  world!  You  guarantee  directly  to  the 
cheap  labor  of  these  tropical  regions,  and 
indirectly,  but  none  the  less  bindingly,  to  the 
cheap  labor  of  the  world,  free  admission  of 
their  products  to  this  continent,  in  unre- 
stricted competition  with  our  own  higher- 
paid  labor.  And  as  your  whole  tariff  system 
is  thus  plucked  up  by  the  roots,  you  must 
resort  to  direct  taxation  for  the  expenses  of 
the  General  Government. 

Secondly,  as  if  this  were  not  enough,  you 
have  made  these  tropical  laborers  citizens, — 
Chinese,  half-breeds,  pagans,  and  all, —  and 
have  given  them  the  unquestionable  and  in- 
alienable right  to  follow  their  products  across 
the  ocean  if  they  like,  flood  our  labor  mar- 
ket, and  compete  in  person  on  our  own  soil  • 
with  our  own  workmen. 

Is  that  the  feast  to  be  set  before  the  labor- 
*ing  men  of  this  country?  Is  that  the  real 
inwardness  of  the  Trojan  horse  pushed  for- 
ward against  our  tariff  wall,  in  the  name  of 
humanity,  to  suffering  Porto  Rico  f  What 
a  programme  for  the  wise  humanitarians 
who  have  been  bewitching  the  world  with 
noble  statesmanship  at  Washington  to  pro- 
pose laying  before  the  organized  labor  of 
this  country  as  their  chosen  platform  for 


252       PEOBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

the  approaching  Presidential  campaign! 
They  need  have  no  fear  the  intelligent 
workingmen  of  America  will  fail  to  appre- 
ciate the  sweet  boon  they  offer. 

The  Patriotic  BuT  if  the  question  thus  raised  at  the  bar 
Aspect  of  it  ^£  politics  may  seem  to  some  only  food  for 
laughter,  that  at  the  bar  of  patriotism  is 
matter  for  tears.  If  the  islanders  are  already 
citizens,  then  they  are  entitled  to  the  future 
of  citizens.  If  the  territory  is  already  an 
integral  part  of  the  United  States,  then  by 
all  our  practice  and  traditions  it  has  the 
right  to  admission  in  States  of  suitable  size 
and  population.  Is  it  said  we  could  keep 
them  out  as  we  have  kept  out  sparsely 
settled  New  Mexico?  How  long  do  you 
expect  to  keep  New  Mexico  out,  or  Okla- 
homa, or  Ai^zona  !  What  luck  did  you  have 
in  keeping  out  others — even  Utah,  with  its 
bar  sinister  of  the  twin  relic  of  barbarism  f 
How  long  would  it  take  your  politicians  of 
the  baser  sort  to  combine  for  the  admission 
of  the  islands  whose  electoral  votes  they  had 
reason  to  think  they  could  control  ? 

But  it  is  said  that  Porto  Rico  deserves 
admission  anyway,  because  we  are  bound 
•by  the  volunteered  assurance  of  General 
Miles  that  they  should  have  the  rights  of 
American  citizens.  Perhaps ;  though  there 
is  no  evidence  that  he  meant  more,  or  that 


OUE  NEW  INTEEESTS  253 

they  thought  he  meant  more,  than  such 
rights  as  American  citizens  everywhere  en- 
joy, even  in  the  District  of  Columbia  —  equal 
laws,  security  of  life  and  property,  freedom 
from  arbitrary  arrests,  local  self-government, 
in  a  word,  the  civil  rights  which  the  genius 
of  our  Grovemment  secures  to  all  under  our 
control  who  are  capable  of  exercising  them. 
If  he  did  mean  more,  or  if  they  thought  he 
meant  more,  did  that  entitle  him  to  antici- 
pate his  chief  and  override  in  casual  military 
proclamation  the  Supreme  Law  of  the  land 
whose  commission  he  bore  !  Or  did  it  en- 
title them  to  suppose  that  he  could  ? 

But  Porto  Rico  received  the  irresistible 
army  of  General  Miles  so  handsomely,  and 
is  so  unfortunate  and  so  little  !  Eeasons  all 
for  consideration,  certainly,  for  care,  for 
generosity  —  but  not  for  starting  the  ava- 
lanche, on  the  theory  that  after  it  has  got 
under  only  a  little  headway  we  can  still  stop 
it  if  we  want  to.  Who  thinks  he  can  lay  his 
hand  on  the  rugged  edge  of  the  Muir  Griacier 
and  compel  it  to  advance  no  farther  ?  Who 
believes  that  we  can  admit  this  little  island 
from  the  mid- Atlantic,  a  third  of  the  way 
over  to  Africa,  and  then  reject  nearer  and 
more  valuable  islands  when  they  come? 
The  famous  law  of  political  gravitation 
which  John  Quincy  Adams  prophetically 
announced  three  quarters  of  a  century  ago 


254  PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

will  then  be  acting  with  ever-increasing  force. 
And,  at  any  rate,  beside  Porto  Rico,  and  with 
the  same  title,  stand  the  Philippines ! 

Eegard,  I  beg  of  you,  in  the  calm  white 
light  that  befits  these  cloistered  retreats  of 
sober  thought,  the  degradation  of  the  Ee- 
public  thus  coolly  anticipated  by  the  men 
that  assure  us  we  have  no  possessions  whose 
people  are  not  entitled  under  our  Constitu- 
tion to  citizenship  and  ultimately  to  State- 
hood I  Surely  to  an  audience  of  scholars 
and  patriots  like  this  not  one  word  need  be 
added.  Emboldened  by  the  approval  you 
have  so  generously  expressed,  I  venture  to 
close  by  assuming  without  hesitation  that 
you  will  not  dishonor  your  Government  by 
evading  its  duty,  nor  betray  it  by  forcing 
unfit  partners  upon  it,  nor  rob  it  by  blind 
and  perverse  neglect  of  its  interests. 

May  I  not  go  further,  and  vouch  for  you, 
as  Californians,  that  the  faith  of  the  fathers 
has  not  forsaken  the  sons  —  that  you  still 
believe  in  the  possibilities  of  the  good  land 
the  Lord  has  given  you,  and  mean  to  work 
them  out;  that  you  know  what  hour  the 
national  clock  has  struck,  and  are  not  mis- 
taking this  for  the  Eighteenth  Century ;  that 
you  will  bid  the  men  who  have  made  that 
mistake,  the  men  of  little  faith,  the  shirkers, 
the  doubters,  the  carpers,  the  grumblers,  be- 
gone, like  Diogenes,  to  their  tubs  —  aye,  bet- 


OUB  NEW  INTERESTS  255 

ter  his  instruction  and  require  these  his  fol- 
lowers to  get  out  of  your  light  I  For,  lo !  yet 
another  century  is  upon  you,  before  which 
even  the  marvels  of  the  Nineteenth  are  to 
grow  pale.  As  of  old,  light  breaks  from  the 
east,  but  now  also,  for  you,  from  the  farther 
East.  It  circles  the  world  in  both  directions, 
like  the  flag  it  is  newly  gilding  now  with  its 
tropic  beams.  The  dawn  of  the  Twentieth 
Century  bursts  upon  you  without  needing  to 
cross  the  Sierras,  and  bathes  at  once  in  its 
golden  splendors,  with  simultaneous  efful- 
gence, the  Narrows  of  Sandy  Hook  and  the 
peerless  portals  of  the  Golden  Gate. 


XI 
"  UNOFFICIAL  INSTRUCTIONS  " 


17 


This  speech  was  delivered  at  the  Farewell  Banquet  given 
by  over  four  hundred  citizens  of  San  Francisco  to  the 
second  Philippine  Commission,  on  the  eve  of  their  sailing 
for  Manila,  at  the  Palace  Hotel,  April  12, 1900.  The  title  is 
adopted  from  the  phrase  used  by  the  President  of  the  Com- 
mission in  his  response ;  to  which  a  leading  journal  of  the 
Pacific  coast,  *'The  Seattle  Post-Intelligencer,"  promptly 
added  that  the  address  "  spoke  for  the  whole  people  of  the 
United  States,"  and  was  ''  the  concrete  expression  of  a  de- 
sire that  animates  nine  tenths  of  all  our  citizens."  Judge 
Taft  frankly  stated  his  concurrence  in  the  views  expressed 
(though  he  held  some  legal  doubts  as  to  whether  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States  did  not  extend,  ex  proprio 
vigore,  to  the  new  possessions),  and  he  pledged  the  Commis- 
sion against  the  influence  of  political  considerations. 


"UNOFFICIAL  INSTRUCTIONS" 


THE  kindness  of  your  call  shall  not  be 
misinterpreted  or  taken  advantage  of. 
Quite  enough  of  my  voice  has  been  heard  in 
the  land,  and  that  very  recently,  as  some 
of  you  can  testify  to  your  cost.  There  are 
others  here  with  far  greater  claims  upon 
your  attention,  and  I  promise  to  be  as  brief 
as  heretofore  I  have  been  prolix. 

The  occasion  is  understood  to  be  pri- 
marily one  of  congratulation  and  personal 
good  will.  It  is  evident  that  San  Francisco  ^ 
thinks  well  of  the  Pacific  coast  member  of 
this  Commission,  and  none  the  worse  be- 
cause he  seems  to  have  been  chosen  for  the 
post  merely  on  account  of  his  being  pecu- 
liarly fit  for  it.  The  city  gladly  takes  the 
rest  of  you  on  faith,  believing  that  the  same 
rule  of  selection  must  have  been  applied  in 
the  cases  with  which  it  has  not  the  happi- 
ness to  be  quite  so  familiar. 

But  it  is  an  occasion,  I  am  authoritatively 
assured,  of  no  political  significance  what- 

259 


260       PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

ever.  It  embraces  in  its  comprehensive  im- 
pulse of  greeting  and  good  wishes  Eepub- 
licans  and  Democrats  and  Dewey  men; 
men  who  hold  the  offices,  men  who  want  the 
offices,  and  men  who  say,  "  A  plague  on  both 
your  houses ! " —  men  who  indorse  the  course 
of  the  Administration,  and  men  who  believe 
the  acquisition  of  the  Philippines  a  mistake. 
I  shall  not  attempt  to  disguise  from  you  the 
fact  that  this  last  is  not  an  opinion  that  I 
individually  hold.  Still,  I  can  respect  the 
convictions  of  those  who  do. 

But  evidently  we  can  have  no  concurrence 
to-night  on  our  extra-continental  policy, 
since  the  differences  are  so  wide  on  vital 
points.  Yet  the  organizers  of  this  testimo- 
nial made  no  mistake.  There  is  a  common 
ground  for  our  meeting.  We  are  all  citi- 
zens of  the  Eepublic,  grateful  for  our  high 
privilege  and  solicitous  that  the  Republic 
shall  take  no  harm  —  all  Americans,  proud 
of  the  name  and  eager  that  it  shall  never  be 
stained  by  base  or  unworthy  acts.  There  is 
no  one  here,  of  whatever  political  faith  or 
lack  of  faith,  who  is  not  a  patriot,  anxious 
for  our  country  on  these  new  and  untried 
paths  it  must  walk  —  most  desirous  that  all 
its  ways  may  prove  ways  of  pleasantness 
and  all  its  paths  lead  to  honorable  peace. 

Well,  then,  gentlemen,  what  is  it  that  a 
company  thus  divided  in  opinion,  and  united 


"unofficial  instructions"  261 

only  in  patriotic  aspirations,  can  agree  in 
looking  to  this  Comniission  for  ?  What  do 
the  American  people  in  general,  and  without 
distinction  of  party,  look  to  them  for ! 

Did  I  hear  a  public  opponent  but  personal 
friend  over  there  murmur  as  his  reply,  "  Not 
much  of  anything  "  1  Alas !  we  may  as  well 
recognize  that  there  are  political  augurs  who 
are  ready  to  give  just  that  as  their  horo- 
scope, and  even  point  to  their  useful  prede- 
cessor, the  last  Commission,  for  presumptive 
proof !  In  fact,  there  are  occasional  grum- 
blers who  would  look  for  more  from  them 
if  they  were  fewer.  These  skeptical  critics 
recognize  that  sometimes  in  a  multitude  of 
counselors  there  may  be  safety,  but  also  recall 
the  maxim  that  councils  of  war  never  fight. 
If  the  truth  must  be  whispered  in  the  ear  of 
the  Commissioners,  there  are  here  and  there 
very  sincere,  capable  people  who  are  grow- 
ing a  bit  weary  of  a  multiplicity  of  commis- 
sions. They  say  —  so  cynical  are  they  — 
that,  in  all  ages  and  countries,  the  easiest 
method  of  evading  or  postponing  a  difficult 
problem  has  been  to  appoint  a  commission 
on  it  and  thus  prolong  the  circumlocution. 

For  a  first  thing,  then,  on  which  we  are 
all  united,  we  look  hopefully  to  our  guests 
to  redeem  the  character  of  this  mode  of  gov- 
ernment by  commission.  For  we  assume 
that  they  are  sent  out  to  the  archipelago  to 


262       PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

govern ;  and  just  at  present  we  don't  know 
of  any  part  of  the  country's  possessions  that 
seems  more  in  need  of  government. 

We  all  unite  in  regarding  them  as  setting 
sail,  not  only  charged  with  the  national  in- 
terests, but  dignified  and  ennobled  by  a 
guardianship  of  the  national  honor.  Thus 
we  are  trying  to  put  ourselves  in  Emerson's 
state  of  mind  about  a  certain  notable  young 
poet,  and  unite  in  hoping  that,  to  use  his 
well-known  phrase,  we  greet  them  at  the 
beginning  of  a  great  career. 

We  certainly  unite  in  earnestly  wishing 
that  they  may  make  the  best  of  a  situation 
which  none  of  us  wholly  like,  and  many  dis- 
like with  all  their  hearts :  the  best  of  it  for 
the  country  which,  by  good  management  or 
bad,  rightfully  or  wrongfully,  is  at  any  rate 
clearly  and  in  the  eyes  of  the  whole  world 
now  responsible  for  the  outcome;  and  the 
best  of  it,  no  less,  for  the  distracted  people 
thrown  upon  our  hands. 

We  cannot  well  help  uniting  in  the  further 
hope  that  their  first  success  will  be  the  re- 
establishment  of  order  throughout  regions 
lately  filled  with  violence  and  bloodshed; 
and  that  they  can  then  bring  about  a  sys- 
tem of  just  and  swift  punishment  for  future 
crimes  of  disorder,  since  all  experience  in 
those  regions  and  among  those  people  shows 
that  the  neglect  to  enforce  such  punish- 


"unofficial   INSTKUCTIONS "  263 

ment  is  itself  the  gravest  and  cruelest  of 
crimes. 

Nor  can  any  one  here  help  uniting  in  the 
hope  that  their  next  and  crowning  success 
will  some  way  be  attained  in  the  preserva- 
tion and  extension  of  those  great  civil  rights 
whose  growth  is  the  distinction,  the  world 
over,  of  Anglo-Saxon  civilization;  whose 
consummate  flower  and  fruitage  are  tha 
glory  of  our  own  Government. 

I  am  even  bold  enough  to  believe  that, 
however  it  might  have  been  twelve  months 
ago,  or  but  six  months  ago,  there  is  no  one 
here  to-night,  recognizing  the  changed  cir- 
cumstances now,  who  would  think  they  could 
best  secure  those  rights  to  all  the  people  by 
calling  back  the  leader  who  is  in  hiding,  and 
his  forces,  which  are  scattered  and  disorgan- 
ized, and  by  now  abandoning  to  such  revenge- 
ful rule  the  great  majority  of  the  islanders 
who  have  remained  peaceful  and  orderly 
during  our  occupation.  For  the  present,  at 
least,  we  unite  in  recognizing  that  they  are 
forced  to  retain  that  care  themselves ;  forced 
to  act  in  the  common  interest  of  all  the  peo- 
ple there,  not  in  the  sole  interest  of  a  war- 
ring faction  in  a  single  tribe  —  in  the  interest 
of  all  the  islands  for  which  we  have  accepted 
responsibility,  not  simply  of  the  one,  or  of 
a  part  of  the  population  on  the  one,  that  has 
made  the  most  trouble. 


264       PKOBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

There  can  be  little  disagreement  in  this 
company  on  the  further  proposition  that,  in 
like  manner,  they  must  act  in  the  interest 
of  all  the  people  here.  In  the  interest  of 
the  islanders,  they  will  soon  seek  to  raise  the 
needed  revenue  in  the  way  least  burden- 
some and  most  beneficial  to  the  islands; 
but  in  the  interest  of  their  country,  we  can- 
not expect  them  to  begin  by  assuming  that 
the  only  way  to  help  the  islanders  is  to 
throw  products  of  tropic  cheap  labor  into 
unrestricted  competition  with  similar  prod- 
ucts of  our  highly  paid  labor.  In  the  in- 
terest of  the  islanders,  they  will  secure  and 
guarantee  the  civil  rights  which  belong  to 
the  very  genius  of  American  institutions; 
but  in  the  interest  of  their  country,  they 
will  not  make  haste  to  extend  the  privilege 
of  American  citizenship,  and  so,  on  the  one 
hand,  enable  those  peoples  of  the  China  Sea, 
Chinese  or  half-breed  or  what  not,  to  flood 
our  labor  market  in  advance  of  any  readi- 
ness at  home  to  change  our  present  laws  of 
exclusion,  while,  on  the  other  hand,  opening 
the  door  to  them  as  States  in  the  Union  to 
take  part  in  the  government  of  this  conti- 
nent. If,  in  the  Providence  of  God,  and  in 
contempt  of  past  judicial  rulings,  the  Su- 
preme Cornet  should  finally  command  it,  this 
Commission,  like  every  other  branch  of  the 
Government,  will  obey.     Till  then  we  may 


"unofficial  instructions"  265 

be  sure  it  will  not,  in  sheer  eagerness  and  joy- 
fulness  of  heart,  anticipate,  or,  as  Wall  Street 
speculators  say,  "discount,'^  such  a  decree 
for  national  degradation.  But  in  their  own 
land,  and,  as  far  as  may  be,  in  accordance 
with  their  old  customs  and  laws,  the  Com- 
mission will  secure  to  them,  if  it  is  to  win 
the  success  we  all  wish  it,  first  every  civil 
right  we  enjoy,  and  next  the  fullest  measure 
of  political  rights  and  local  self-government 
they  are  found  capable  of  sustaining,  with 
ordered  liberty  for  all  the  people. 

There,  then,  is  the  doom  we  have  reason 
to  expect  this  Commission  to  inflict  on  these 
temporarily  turbulent  wards  of  the  Nation ! 
First  order;  then  justice;  then  American 
civil  rights,  not  for  a  class,  or  a  tribe,  or  a 
race,  but  for  all  the  people;  then  local 
self-government. 

But  if  your  guests  begin  this  task  with  the 
notion  that  they  are  the  first  ofiicials  of  a 
free  people  ever  given  such  work,  and  must 
therefore,  American  fashion,  discover  from 
the  foundation  for  themselves, — if  they  fancy 
nobody  ever  dealt  with  semi-civilized  Ori- 
entals till  we  stumbled  on  them  in  the  Phil- 
ippines,— they  will  waste  precious  time  in 
costly  experiments,  if  not  fail  outright.  It 
is  n't  worth  while  thus  to  invent  over  again 
everything  down  to  the  very  alphabet  of 
work  among^such  people.    We  can  afford  to 


266       PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

abate  the  self-suflSciency  of  the  almighty- 
Yankee  Nation  enough  to  profit  a  little  by 
the  lessons  other  people  have  learned  in 
going  over  the  road  before  us. 

From  such  lessons  they  will  be  sure  to 
gather  at  once  that  if  they  now  show  a  trace 
of  timidity  or  hesitation  in  their  firm  and 
just  course,  because  somebody  has  said  some- 
thing in  Washington  or  on  the  stump,  or  be- 
cause there  is  an  election  coming  on,  they 
will  fail. 

In  fact,  if  they  do  not  know  now,  as  well 
as  they  know  what  soil  they  still  stand  on 
and  what  countrymen  are  about  them,  and 
if  they  do  not  act  as  if  they  knew,  that,  no 
matter  what  the  politicians  or  the  platforms 
say,  and  no  matter  what  party  comes  into 
power,  the  American  people  have  at  present 
no  notion  of  throwing  these  islands  away,  or 
abandoning  them,  or  neglecting  the  care  of 
them,  they  have  not  mastered  the  plainest 
part  of  their  problem,  and  must  fail. 

Above  all,  if  there  is  a  trace  of  politics  in 
their  work,  or  of  seeking  for  political  effect 
at  home,  they  will  fail,  and  deserve  to  fail. 
In  this  most  delicate  and  difficult  task  before 
them  there  is  no  salvation  but  in  the  scrupu- 
lous choice  of  the  very  best  fitted  agency 
available,  in  each  particular  case,  for  the 
particular  work  in  hand.  If  they  appoint 
one  man,  or  encourage  or  silently  submit  to 


"unofficial   instructions"  267 

the  appointment  of  one  man,  to  responsible 
place  in  their  service  among  these  islanders, 
merely  because  he  has  been  useful  in  politics 
at  home,  they  will  be  organizing  failure 
and  discredit  in  advance. 

But  they  will  do  no  such  things.  Not  so 
has  this  body  of  men  been  selected.  Not 
such  is  the  high  appreciation  of  the  oppor- 
tunity offered  that  has  led  you,  Mr.  President 
of  the  Commission,  to  abandon  your  well- 
earned  and  distinguished  place  at  home  to 
begin  a  new  career  at  the  antipodes.  Yet 
more — I,  at  least,  can  certify  to  this  company 
that  not  such  is  the  sense  of  public  duty  you 
inherited  from  your  honored  father,  and  have 
consistently  illustrated  throughout  your  own 
career.  You  will  not  fail,  because  you  know 
the  peril  and  the  prize.  You  will  not  fail, 
because  you  have  civilization  and  law  and 
ordered  freedom,  the  honor  of  your  land  and 
the  happiness  of  a  new  one,  in  your  care  — 
because  you  know  that,  for  uncounted 
peoples,  the  hopes  of  future  years  hang 
breathless  on  your  fate.  And  so,  gentlemen 
of  the  Commission,  good-by,  and  God-speed  ! 

In  spite  of  rock  and  tempest's  roar, 
In  spite  of  false  lights  on  the  shore, 
Sail  on,  nor  fear  to  breast  the  sea! 


APPENDICES 


1.  Power  to  Acquire  and  Govern  Territory. 

2.  The  Tariff  in  United  States  Territory. 

3.  The  Resolutions  of  Congress  as  to  Cuba. 

4.  The  Protocol  of  Washington. 

5.  The  Peace  of  Paris. 


POWER  TO  ACQUIRE  AND  aOYERN 
TERRITORY 

The  United  States  has  as  much  power  as  any  other 
Government. 

"  The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  estab- 
lished a  Government,  and  not  a  league,  compact, 
or  partnership,  ...  As  a  Government  it  was  in- 
vested with  all  the  attributes  of  sovereignty.  .  .  . 
It  is  not  only  a  Government,  but  it  is  a  National 
Government,"  and  the  only  Government  in  this 
country  that  has  the  character  of  nationality.  .  .  . 
Such  being  the  character  of  the  General  Govern- 
ment, it  seems  to  be  a  self-evident  proposition 
that  it  is  invested  with  all  those  inherent  and  im- 
plied powers  which,  at  the  time  of  adopting  the 
Constitution, were  generally  considered  to  belong 
to  every  Government  as  such,  and  as  being  essen- 
tial to  the  exercise  of  its  functions."  (Mr.  Justice 
Bradley,  United  States  Supreme  Court,  Legal 
Tender  Cases,  12  Wall.  554.) 

The  United  States  can  acquire  territory  hy  conquest  or 
ly  treaty,  as  a  condition  of  peace  or  as  indemnity. 

"  The  United  States  .  .  .  may  extend  its  boun- 
daries by  conquest  or  treaty,  and  may  demand  the 
cession  of  territory  as  the  condition  of  peace,  in 
order  to  indemnify  its  citizens  for  the  injuries  they 
have  suffered,  or  to  reimburse  the  Government 
for  the  expenses  of  the  war.  But  this  can  only 
be  done  by  the  treaty-making  power  or  the  legis- 
lative authority."  (United  States  Supreme  Court, 
Fleming  et  al.  v.  Page,  9  How.  614.) 

271 


272       PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

The  United  States  can  have  a  valid  title  hy  conquest 
to  territory  not  a  part  of  the  Union. 

''  By  the  laws  and  usages  of  nations,  conquest  is 
a  valid  title.  ...  As  regarded  by  all  other  nations 
it  [Tampico]  was  a  part  of  the  tjnited  States,  and 
belonged  to  them  as  exclusively  as  a  Territory  in- 
cluded in  our  established  boundaries,  but  yet  it 
was  not  a  part  of  the  Union."  (United  States 
Supreme  Court,  Fleming  et  al.  v.  Page,  9  How. 
603-615.) 

A  title  so  acquired  hy  the  United  States  cannot  he 
questioned  in  its  courts. 

*'  If  those  departments  which  are  intrusted  with 
the  foreign  intercourse  of  the  Nation  .  .  .  have 
unequivocally  asserted  its  rights  of  dominion 
over  a  country  of  which  it  is  in  possession  and 
which  it  claims  under  a  treaty,  if  the  legisla- 
ture has  acted  on  the  construction  thus  asserted, 
it  is  not  in  its  own  courts  that  this  construction 
is  to  be  denied.  A  question  like  this,  respecting 
the  boundaries  of  a  nation,  is  .  .  .  more  a  political 
than  a  legal  question,  and  in  its  discussion  the 
courts  of  every  country  must  respect  the  pro- 
nounced will  of  the  legislature."  (Mr.  Chief  Jus- 
tice Marshall,  Foster  et  al.  v.  Neilson,  2  Peters 
253, 309.) 

Yet  mcJi  territory  may  he  still  outside  the  United 
States  (meaning  thereby  the  American  Union 
organized  by  the  Constitution— the  Nation), 
atid  cannot  get  in  mthout  action  hy  the  political 
authmities. 

"  The  boundaries  of  the  United  States,  as  they 
existed  when  war  was  declared  against  Mexico, 
were  not  extended  by  the  conquest.  .   .  .  They 


APPENDICES  273 

remained  unchanged.  And  every  place  which 
was  out  of  the  limits  of  the  United  States,  as 
previously  established  by  the  political  authorities 
of  the  Government,  was  still  foreign."  (Fleming 
et  al.  V.  Page,  9  How.  616.) 

The  United  States  can  govern  such  territory  as  it 
pleases.  Thus  it  can  withhold  any  power  of  local 
legislation. 

"Possessing  the  power  to  erect  a  Territorial 
government  for  Alaska,  they  could  confer  upon  it 
such  powers,  judicial  and  executive,  as  they 
deemed  most  suitable  to  the  necessities  of  the  in- 
habitants. It  was  unquestionably  within  the 
constitutional  power  of  Congress  to  withhold 
from  the  inhabitants  of  Alaska  the  power  to  leg- 
islate and  make  laws.  In  the  absence,  then,  of 
any  law-making  power  in  the  Territory,  to  what 
source  must  the  people  look  for  the  laws  by  which 
they  are  to  be  governed  ?  This  question  can  admit 
of  but  one  answer.  Congress  is  the  only  law- 
making power  for  Alaska."  (United  States  v. 
Nelson,  29  Fed.  Rep.  202,  205,  206.) 

Mr.  Jefferson  even  held  that  the  United  States  could 
sell  territory,  hold  it  as  a  colony,  or  regulate  its 
commerce  as  it  pleased, 

"The  Territory  [Louisiana]  was  purchased  by 
the  United  States  in  their  confederate  capacity, 
and  may  be  disposed  of  by  them  at  their  plea- 
sure. It  is  in  the  nature  of  a  colony  whose  com- 
merce may  be  regulated  without  any  reference  to 
the  Constitution."  (And  Louisiana  was  so  gov- 
erned for  years  after  the  purchase,  with  different 
tariff  requirements  from  those  of  the  United 
States,  and  without  trial  by  jury  in  civil  cases.) 

18 


274       PKOBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

Again,  the  United  States  may  even  (as  in  the  case  of 
Consular  Courts)  withhold  the  right  of  trial  by 
jury. 

"  By  the  Constitution  a  government  is  ordained 
and  established  '  for  the  United  States  of  America/ 
and  not  for  countries  outside  of  their  limits. 
The  guaranties  it  aifords  against  accusation  of 
capital  or  infamous  crimes,  except  by  indictment 
or  presentment  by  a  grand  jury,  and  for  an  im- 
partial trial  by  a  jury  when  thus  accused,  apply 
only  to  citizens  and  others  within  the  United 
States,  or  who  are  brought  there  for  trial  for 
alleged  offenses  committed  elsewhere,  and  not  to 
residents  or  temporary  sojourners  abroad.  The 
Constitution  can  have  no  operation  in  another 
country."  [In  re  Ross,  140  U.  S.  463,  465.)  (In  this 
case  the  prisoner  insisted  that  the  refusal  to  allow 
him  a  trial  by  jury  was  a  fatal  defect  in  the  juris- 
diction exercised  by  the  court,  and  rendered  its 
judgment  absolutely  void.) 

The  United  States  can  govern  such  territory  though 
Congress. 

"  At  the  time  the  Constitution  was  formed  the 
limits  of  the  territory  over  which  it  was  to  oper- 
ate were  generally  defined  and  recognized. 
These  States,  this  territory,  and  future  States  to 
be  admitted  into  the  Union,  are  the  sole  objects  of 
the  Constitution.  There  is  no  express  provision 
whatever  made  in  the  Constitution  for  the  acqui- 
sition or  government  of  territories  beyond  those 
limits.  The  right,  therefore,  of  acquiring  terri- 
tory is  altogether  incidental  to  the  treaty-making 
power,  and  perhaps  to  the  power  of  admitting 
new  States  into  the  Union ;  and  the  government 
of  such  acquisitions  is,  of  course,  left  to  the  legis- 


APPENDICES  275 

lative  power  of  the  Union,  as  far  as  that  power 
is  controlled  by  treaty."  (Mr.  Justice  Johnson  of 
the  Supreme  Court,  sitting  in  the  Circuit,  in  Am. 
Ins.  Co.  V.  Canter,  1  Pet.  517.) 

Mr.  Chief  Justice  Marshall,  affirming  the  above 
decision,  says : 

"  Perhaps  the  power  of  governing  a  Territory 
belonging  to  the  United  States  which  has  not,  by 
becoming  a  State,  acquired  the  means  of  self- 
government,  may  result  necessarily  from  the  facts 
that  it  is  not  within  the  jurisdiction  of  any  par- 
ticular State,  and  is  within  the  power  and  juris- 
diction of  the  United  States.  The  right  to  gov- 
ern may  be  the  inevitable  consequence  of  the  right 
to  acquire  territory.  Whichever  may  be  the 
source  whence  the  power  is  derived,  the  posses- 
sion of  it  is  unquestioned."   (1  Pet.  541,  542.) 

The  General  Government  exercises  a  sovereignty  in- 
dependent of  the  Constitution. 

"  Their  people  [in  organized  Territories]  do  not 
constitute  a  sovereign  power.  All  political  au- 
thority exercised  therein  is  derived  [not  from  the 
Constitution,  but]  from  the  General  Government." 
(Snow  V.  United  States,  18  Wall.  317,  320.) 

The  General  Government  is  expected,  however ,  to  he 
controlled  as  to  personal  and  civil  rights  hy  the 
general  principles  of  the  Constitution. 

'^  The  personal  and  civil  rights  of  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  Territories  are  secured  to  them,  as  to 
other  citizens,  by  the  principles  of  constitutional 
liberty  which  restrain  all  the  agencies  of  govern- 
ment."    (Murphy  v.  Ramsay,  114  U.  S.  15,  44,  45.) 


276       PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

"  Doubtless  Congress,  in  legislating  for  the  Ter- 
ritories, would  be  subject  to  those  fundamental 
limitations  in  favor  of  personal  rights  which  are 
formulated  in  the  Constitution  and  its  amend- 
ments; but  these  Hmitations  would  exist  rather 
by  inference  and  the  general  spirit  of  the  Consti- 
tution, from  which  Congress  derives  all  its  powers, 
than  by  any  express  and  direct  application  of  its 
provisions."  (Mormon  Church  v.  United  States, 
136  U.  S.  1, 44 ;  Thompson  v.  Utah,  170  U.  S.  343, 
349.) 


THE  TARIFF  IN  UNITED   STATES 
TEREITORY 

The  one  point  at  which  the  opponents  of  the 
doctrine  that  Congress  can  govern  the  Territories 
as  it  pleases  are  able  to  make  a  prima  facie  case 
by  quoting  a  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court,  is  as 
to  the  application  of  the  United  States  tariff  to 
the  Territories.  When  California  was  acquired, 
but  before  Congress  had  acted  or  a  Collection  Dis- 
trict had  been  established,  the  Supreme  Court  sus- 
tained the  demand  for  duties  under  the  United 
States  tariff  on  goods  landed  at  California  ports 
(Cross  V.  Harrison,  16  How.  164).  Mr.  Justice 
Wayne  said : 

"By  the  ratifications  of  the  treaty  California 
became  a  part  of  the  United  States.  And  as  there 
is  nothing  differently  stipulated  in  the  treaty  with 
respect  to  commerce,  it  became  instantly  bound 
and  privileged  by  the  laws  which  Congress  had 
passed  to  raise  a  revenue  from  duties  on  imports 
and  tonnage.  .  .  .  The  right  claimed  to  land 
foreign  goods  within  the  United  States  at  any 
place  out  of  a  Collection  District,  if  allowed, 
would  be  a  violation  of  that  provision  in  the  Con- 
stitution which  enjoins  that  all  duties,  imposts, 
and  excises  shall  be  uniform  throughout  the 
United  States." 

The  court  here  bases  its  reasoning  distinctly  on 

277 


278       PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

the  treaty  by  which  California  was  acquired. 
But  that  treaty  gave  the  pledge  that  California 
(an  adjacent  Territory)  should  be  incorporated 
into  the  American  Union.  The  Treaty  of  Paris 
gave  no  such  pledge  as  to  the  Philippines  (not  adja- 
cent territory,  but  nine  thousand  miles  away),  could 
not  in  the  nature  of  the  case  have  given  such  a 
pledge,  and  did  provide,  instead,  that  the  whole 
question  of  the  civil  rights  and  political  status  of 
the  native  inhabitants  should  be  determined  by 
the  Congress.  Recalling  Mr.  Justice  Story^s 
remark  that  in  a  Constitution  "  there  ought  to  be 
a  capacity  to  provide  for  future  contingencies  as 
they  may  happen,  and  as  these  are  .  .  .  illimitable 
in  their  nature,  so  it  is  impossible  safely  to  limit 
that  capacity,"  it  would  seem  that  there  would 
certainly  be  elasticity  enough  in  the  Constitution, 
or  common  sense  enough  in  its  interpretation,  to 
permit  the  Supreme  Court  to  perceive  some  differ- 
ence between  a  requirement  of  uniform  tariff  on  this 
continent  over  a  territory  specifically  acquired  in 
order  to  be  made  a  State,  and  such  a  requirement 
on  the  other  side  of  the  globe  over  territory  not 
so  acquired.  The  case  becomes  stronger  when 
the  treaty  (also  constitutionally  a  part  of  the 
Supreme  Law  of  the  land)  turns  over  the  political 
status  of  the  latter  territory  entirely  to  Congress. 

The  Constitution  makes  the  same  or  similar  re- 
quirements of  uniformity  throughout  the  United 
States  as  to  the  tariff,  internal  taxes,  courts,  and 
the  right  of  trial  by  jury.  But  in  every  case  the 
early  practice  did  not  construe  this  to  include  the 
Territories. 

As  to  uniformity  in  tariff.    It  was  not  enforced 


APPENDICES  279 

rigidly  in  Louisiana  for  years.  So  little,  in  fact, 
was  it  then  held  that  Louisiana,  as  soon  as  ac- 
quired, became  an  integral  part  of  the  United 
States  (notwithstanding  the  treaty  provision  that 
in  time  it  should),  that  though  the  directors  of  the 
United  States  Bank  were  empowered  to  establish 
offices  of  discount  and  deposit  '^  wheresoever  they 
shall  think  fit  within  the  United  States,'^  they  did 
not  consider  this  a  warrant  for  establishing  one  in 
New  Orleans,  and  actually  secured  from  the  Con- 
gress for  that  purpose  a  bill,  signed  by  Thomas 
Jefferson  on  March  23,  1804,  extending  their  au- 
thority, under  the  terms  of  their  original  charter, 
to  ^'  any  part  of  the  Territories  or  dependencies  of 
the  United  States." 

As  to  uniformity  in  internal  taxes.  The  very 
first  levied  in  the  United  States,  that  of  March  3, 
1791,  omitted  the  Territories  altogether,  dividing 
the  United  States  into  fourteen  Collection  Districts, 
"  each  consisting  of  one  State."  It  is  not  until  1798 
that  any  trace  can  be  found  of  a  collection  of  inter- 
nal revenue  in  the  territory  northwest  of  the  Ohio. 

As  to  the  courts.  The  Constitution  requires  that 
the  judicial  officers  of  the  United  States  shall  hold 
office  during  good  behavior.  For  a  century  the 
judicial  officers  of  Territories  have  been  restricted 
to  fixed  terms  of  office. 

As  to  trial  hy  jury.  The  Constitution  gives  the 
right  to  it  to  every  criminal  case  in  the  United 
States,  and  to  every  civil  case  involving  over 
twenty  dollars.  Under  Mr.  Jefferson's  govern- 
ment of  Louisiana,  trial  by  jury  was  limited  to 
capital  cases  in  criminal  prosecutions.  It  has 
likewise  been  denied  in  Consular  Courts. 


3 


THE  EESOLUTIONS  OF  CONGRESS 
AS  TO  CUBA 

Adopted  by  Congress,  April  19,  1898 :  by  the  Senate  at 
1 :  38  A.M.,  42  to  35 ;  by  the  House  at  2 :  40  a.m.,  311  to  6. 

Whereas,  The  abhorrent  conditions  which 
have  existed  for  more  than  three  years  in  the 
island  of  Cuba,  so  near  our  own  borders,  have 
shocked  the  moral  sense  of  the  people  of  the 
United  States,  have  been  a  disgrace  to  Christian 
civilization, —  culminating,  as  they  have,  in  the 
destruction  of  a  United  States  battle-ship,  with 
two  hundred  and  sixty  of  its  officers  and  crew, 
while  on  a  friendly  visit  in  the  harbor  of  Havana, 
—  and  cannot  longer  be  endured,  as  has  been  set 
forth  by  the  President  of  the  United  States  in  his 
message  to  Congress  of  April  11,  1898,  upon 
which  the  action  of  Congress  was  invited  j  there- 
fore be  it  resolved, 

Firsty  That  the  people  of  the  island  of  Cuba 
are,  and  of  right  ought  to  be,  free  and  inde- 
pendent. 

Second,  That  it  is  the  duty  of  the  United 
States  to  demand,  and  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  does  hereby  demand,  that  the  Gov- 
ernment of  Spain  at  once  relinquish  its  authority 
and  government  in  the  island  of  Cuba  and  with- 
draw its  land  and  naval  forces  from  Cuba  and 
Cuban  waters. 

280 


I 


APPENDICES  281 

Third,  That  the  President  of  the  United  States 
be,  and  he  hereby  is,  directed  and  empowered  to 
use  the  entire  land  and  naval  forces  of  the  United 
States,  and  to  call  into  the  actual  service  of  the 
United  States  the  militia  of  the  several  States  to 
such  an  extent  as  may  be  necessary  to  carry  these 
resolutions  into  effect. 

Fourth,  That  the  United  States  hereby  dis- 
claims any  disposition  or  intention  to  exercise 
sovereignty,  jurisdiction,  or  control  over  said 
island,  except  for  the  pacification  thereof,  and 
asserts  its  determination  when  that  is  accom- 
plished to  leave  the  government  and  control  of 
the  island  to  its  people. 


THE  PEOTOCOL  OF  WASHINGTON 

William  R.  Day,  Secretary  of  State  of  the 
United  States,  and  His  Excellency  Jules  Cambon, 
Ambassador  Extraordinary  and  Plenipotentiary 
of  the  Republic  of  France  at  Washington,  re- 
spectively possessing  for  this  purpose  full  author- 
ity from  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
and  the  Government  of  Spain,  have  concluded 
and  signed  the  following  articles,  embodying  the 
terms  on  which  the  two  Governments  have  agreed 
in  respect  to  the  matters  hereinafter  set  forth, 
having  in  view  the  establishment  of  peace  between 
the  two  countries,  that  is  to  say : 

Article  I 

Spain  will  relinquish  all  claim  of  sovereignty 
over  and  title  to  Cuba. 

Article  H 

Spain  will  cede  to  the  United  States  the  island 
of  Porto  Rico  and  other  islands  now  under  Span- 
ish sovereignty  in  the  West  Indies,  and  also  an 
island  in  the  Ladrones  to  be  selected  by  the  United 
States. 

Article  III 

The  United  States  will  occupy  and  hold  the 
city,  bay,  and  harbor  of  Manila,  pending  the  con- 


APPENDICES  283 

elusion  of  a  treaty  of  peace  which  shall  determine 
the  control,  disposition,  and  government  of  the 
Philippines. 

Article  IV 

Spain  will  immediately  evacuate  Cuba,  Porto 
Rico,  and  other  islands  now  under  Spanish  sover- 
eignty in  the  West  Indies ;  and  to  this  end  each 
Government  will,  within  ten  days  after  the  sign- 
ing of  this  protocol,  appoint  Commissioners,  and 
the  Commissioners  so  appointed  shall,  within 
thirty  days  after  the  signing  of  this  protocol,  meet 
at  Havana  for  the  purpose  of  arranging  and  car- 
rying out  the  details  of  the  aforesaid  evacuation 
of  Cuba  and  the  adjacent  Spanish  islands ;  and 
each  Government  will,  within  ten  days  after  the 
signing  of  this  protocol,  also  appoint  other  Com- 
missioners, who  shall,  within  thirty  days  after  the 
signing  of  this  protocol,  meet  at  San  Juan,  in 
Porto  Rico,  for  the  purpose  of  arranging  and  car- 
rying out  the  details  of  the  aforesaid  evacuation 
of  Porto  Rico  and  other  islands  now  under 
Spanish  sovereignty  in  the  West  Indies. 

Article  V 

The  United  States  and  Spain  will  each  appoint 
not  more  than  five  Commissioners  to  treat  of 
peace,  and  the  Commissioners  so  appointed  shall 
meet  at  Paris  not  later  than  October  1,  1898,  and 
proceed  to  the  negotiation  and  conclusion  of  a 
treaty  of  peace,  which  treaty  shall  be  subject  to 
ratification  according  to  the  respective  constitu- 
tional forms  of  the  two  countries. 


284       PROBLEMS  Of   EXPANSION 

Article  VI 

Upou  the  conclusion  and  signing  of  this  proto- 
col, hostilities  between  the  two  countries  shall  be 
suspended,  and  notice  to  that  effect  shall  be  given 
as  soon  as  possible  by  each  Government  to  the 
commanders  of  its  military  and  naval  forces. 

Done  at  Washington  in  duplicate,  in  English 
and  in  French,  by  the  undersigned,  who  have 
hereunto  set  their  hands  and  seals  the  twelfth  day 
of  August,  1898. 

(Seal)        WiLLLUVi  R.  Day. 
(Seal)       Jules  Cambon. 


THE  PEACE  OF  PARIS 

Negotiations  begun  in  Paris,  October  1,  1898.  Treaty- 
signed  in  Paris,  8:45  p.m.,  December  10.  Delivered  by- 
United  States  Commissioners  to  the  President,  December 
24 ;  transmitted  to  the  Senate  with  the  official  report  of  the 
negotiations,  January  4,  1899  ;  ratified  by  Senate  in  execu- 
tive session,  February  6,  by  a  vote  of  57  against  27.  Formal 
exchange  of  ratifications  at  Washington,  April  11.  Twenty 
millions  paid  through  Jules  Cambon,  May  1.  Treaty  rati- 
fied by  Spanish  Senate,  July  3,  1899. 

The  United  States  of  America  and  Her  Majesty 
the  Queen  Regent  of  Spain,  in  the  name  of  her 
august  son,  Don  Alfonso  XIH,  desiring  to  end 
the  state  of  war  now  existing  between  the  two 
countries,  have  for  that  purpose  appointed  as 
plenipotentiaries : 

The  President  of  the  United  States, 

William  R.  Day,  Cushman  K.  Davis,  William 
P.  Frye,  George  Gray,  and  Whitelaw  Reid,  citi- 
zens of  the  United  States  j 

And  Her  Majesty  the  Queen  Regent  of  Spain , 

Don  Eugenio  Montero  Rios,  President  of  the 
Senate ;  Don  Buenaventura  de  Abarzuza,  Senator 
of  the  Kingdom  and  ex-Minister  of  the  Crown ; 
Don  Jose  de  Garnica,  Deputy  to  the  Cortes  and 
Associate  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court;  Don 
Wenceslao  Ramirez  de  Villa  Urrutia,  Envoy  Ex- 

285 


286       PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

traordinary  and  Minister  Plenipotentiary  at  Brus- 
sels ;  and  Don  Rafael  Cerero,  General  of  Division ; 

Who,  having  assembled  in  Paris  and  having 
exchanged  their  full  powers,  which  were  found 
to  be  in  due  and  proper  form,  have,  after  discus- 
sion of  the  matters  before  them,  agreed  upon  the 
following  articles : 

Article  I.  Spain  relinquishes  all  claim  of  sov- 
ereignty over  and  title  to  Cuba. 

And  as  the  island  is,  upon  its  evacuation  by 
Spain,  to  be  occupied  by  the  United  States,  the 
United  States  will,  so  long  as  such  occupation 
shall  last,  assume  and  discharge  the  obligations 
that  may  under  international  law  result  from  the 
fact  of  its  occupation  for  the  protection  of  life 
and  property. 

Article  II.  Spain  cedes  to  the  United  States  the 
island  of  Porto  Rico  and  other  islands  now  under 
Spanish  sovereignty  in  the  West  Indies,  and  the 
island  of  Guam,  in  the  Marianas  or  Ladrones. 

Ai*ticle  III.  Spain  cedes  to  the  United  States 
the  archipelago  known  as  the  Philippine  Islands, 
and  comprehending  the  islands  lying  within  the 
following  lines : 

A  line  running  from  west  to  east  along  or  near 
the  twentieth  parallel  of  north  latitude,  and 
through  the  middle  of  the  navigable  channel  of 
Bachti,  from  the  one  hundred  and  eighteenth 
(118th)  to  the  one  hundred  and  twenty-seventh 
(127th)  degree  meridian  of  longitude  east  of 
Greenwich,  thence  along  the  one  hundred  and 
twenty-seventh  (127th)  degree  meridian  of  longi- 
tude east  of  Greenwich  to  the  parallel  of  four  de- 


APPENDICES  287 

grees  and  forty-five  minutes  (4^  45')  north  latitude, 
thence  along  the  parallel  of  four  degrees  and 
forty-five  minutes  (4°  45^  north  latitude  to  its  in- 
tersection with  the  meridian  of  longitude  one  hun- 
dred and  nineteen  degrees  and  thirty-five  minutes 
(119°  35')  east  of  Greenwich,  thence  along  the  me- 
ridian of  longitude  one  hundred  and  nineteen  de- 
grees and  thirty-five  minutes  (119°  35')  east  of 
Greenwich  to  the  parallel  of  latitude  seven  de- 
grees and  forty  minutes  (7°  40')  north,  thence  along 
the  parallel  of  latitude  seven  degrees  and  forty 
minutes  (7°  40')  north  to  its  intersection  with  the 
one  hundred  and  sixteenth  (116th)  degree  merid- 
ian of  longitude  east  of  Greenwich,  thence  by  a 
direct  line  to  the  intersection  of  the  tenth  (10th) 
degree  parallel  of  north  latitude  with  the  one 
hundred  and  eighteenth  (118th)  degree  meridian 
of  longitude  east  of  Greenwich,  and  thence  along 
the  one  hundred  and  eighteenth  (118th)  degree 
meridian  of  longitude  east  of  Greenwich  to  the 
point  of  beginning. 

The  United  States  will  pay  to  Spain  the  sum  of 
twenty  million  dollars  ($20,000,000)  within  three 
months  after  the  exchange  of  the  ratifications  of 
the  present  treaty. 

Article  IV .  The  United  States  will  for  ten  years 
from  the  date  of  exchange  of  ratifications  of  the 
present  treaty  admit  Spanish  ships  and  merchan- 
dise to  the  ports  of  the  Philippine  Islands  on  the 
same  terms  as  ships  and  merchandise  of  the 
United  States. 

Article  V.  The  United  States  will,  upon  the  sig- 
nature of  the  present  treaty,  send  back  to  Spain, 
at  its  own  cost,  the  Spanish  soldiers  taken  as 


288       PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

prisoners  of  war  ou  the  capture  of  Manila  by  the 
American  forces.  The  arms  of  the  soldiers  in 
question  shall  be  restored  to  them. 

Spain  will,  upon  the  exchange  of  the  ratifica- 
tions of  the  present  treaty,  proceed  to  evacuate 
the  Philippines,  as  well  as  the  island  of  Guam,  on 
terms  similar  to  those  agreed  upon  by  the  Com- 
missioners appointed  to  arrange  for  the  evacua- 
tion of  Porto  Rico  and  other  islands  in  the  West 
Indies  under  the  protocol  of  August  12,  1898, 
which  is  to  continue  in  force  till  its  provisions 
are  completely  executed. 

The  time  within  which  the  evacuation  of  the 
Philippine  Islands  and  Guam  shall  be  completed 
shall  be  fixed  by  the  two  Governments.  Stands 
of  colors,  uncaptured  war-vessels,  small  arms, 
guns  of  all  calibers,  with  their  carriages  and  ac- 
cessories, powder,  ammunition,  live  stock,  and 
materials  and  supplies  of  all  kinds  belonging  to 
the  land  and  naval  forces  of  Spain  in  the  Philip- 
pines and  Guam  remain  the  property  of  Spain. 
Pieces  of  heavy  ordnance,  exclusive  of  field  artil- 
lery, in  the  fortifications  and  coast  defenses,  shall 
remain  in  their  emplacements  for  the  term  of  six 
months,  to  be  reckoned  from  the  exchange  of  rati- 
fications of  the  treaty;  and  the  United  States 
may  in  the  meantime  purchase  such  material 
from  Spain,  if  a  satisfactory  agreement  between 
the  two  Governments  on  the  subject  shall  be 
reached. 

Article  VI.  Spain  will,  upon  the  signature  of 
the  present  treaty,  release  all  prisoners  of  war 
and  aU  persons  detained  or  imprisoned  for  politi- 
cal offenses  in  connection  with  the  insurrections 


APPENDICES  289 

in  Cuba  and  the  Philippines  and  the  war  with 
the  United  States. 

Reciprocally  the  United  States  will  release  all 
persons  made  prisoners  of  war  by  the  American 
forces,  and  will  undertake  to  obtain  the  release 
of  all  Spanish  prisoners  in  the  hands  of  the  insur- 
gents in  Cuba  and  the  Philippines. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  will  at 
its  own  cost  return  to  Spain,  and  the  Government 
of  Spain  will  at  its  own  cost  return  to  the  United 
States,  Cuba,  Porto  Rico,  and  the  Philippines, 
according  to  the  situation  of  their  respective 
homes,  prisoners  released  or  caused  to  be  released 
by  them,  respectively,  under  this  article. 

Article  VII.  The  United  States  and  Spain  mu- 
tually relinquish  all  claims  for  indemnity,  national 
and  individual,  of  every  kind,  of  either  Govern- 
ment, or  of  its  citizens  or  subjects,  against  the 
other  Government,  which  may  have  arisen  since 
the  beginning  of  the  late  insurrection  in  Cuba, 
and  prior  to  the  exchange  of  ratifications  of  the 
present  treaty,  including  all  claims  for  indemnity 
for  the  cost  of  the  war.  The  United  States  will 
adjudicate  and  settle  the  claims  of  its  citizens 
against  Spain  relinquished  in  this  article. 

Article  VIII.  In  conformity  with  the  provisions 
of  Articles  I,  II,  and  III  of  this  treaty,  Spain  re- 
linquishes in  Cuba  and  cedes  in  Porto  Rico  and 
other  islands  in  the  West  Indies,  in  the  island  of 
Guam,  and  in  the  Philippine  Archipelago  all  the 
buildings,  wharves,  barracks,  forts,  structures, 
public  highways,  and  other  immovable  property 
which  in  conformity  with  law  belong  to  the  public 
domain  and  as  such  belong  to  the  Crown  of  Spain. 

19 


290  PROBLEMS   OF  EXPANSION 

And  it  is  hereby  declared  that  the  relinquish- 
ment or  cession,  as  the  case  may  be,  to  which  the 
preceding  paragraph  refers,  cannot  in  any  respect 
impair  the  property  or  rights  which  by  law  belong 
to  the  peaceful  possession  of  property  of  all  kinds 
of  provinces,  municipalities,  public  or  private  es- 
tablishments, ecclesiastical  or  civic  bodies  or  any 
other  associations  having  legal  capacity  to  acquire 
and  possess  property  in  the  aforesaid  territories 
renounced  or  ceded,  or  of  private  individuals,  of 
whatsoever  nationality  such  individuals  may  be. 

The  aforesaid  relinquishment  or  cession,  as  the 
case  may  be,  includes  all  documents  exclusively 
referring  to  the  sovereignty  relinquished  or  ceded 
that  may  exist  in  the  archives  of  the  Peninsula. 
Where  any  document  in  such  archives  only  in 
part  relates  to  said  sovereignty  a  copy  of  such 
part  will  be  furnished  whenever  it  shall  be  re- 
quested. Like  rules  shall  be  reciprocally  observed 
in  favor  of  Spain  in  respect  of  documents  in  the 
archives  of  the  islands  above  referred  to. 

In  the  aforesaid  relinquishment  or  cession,  as 
the  case  may  be,  are  also  included  such  rights  as 
the  Crown  of  Spain  and  its  authorities  possess  in 
respect  of  the  official  archives  and  records,  execu- 
tive as  well  as  judicial,  in  the  islands  above  re- 
ferred to,  which  relate  to  said  islands  or  the  rights 
and  property  of  their  inhabitants.  Such  archives 
and  records  shall  be  carefully  preserved,  and  pri- 
vate persons  shall,  without  distinction,  have  the 
right  to  require,  in  accordance  with  the  law,  au- 
thenticated copies  of  the  contracts,  wills,  and  other 
instruments  forming  part  of  notarial  protocols  or 
files,  or  which  may  be  contained  in  the  executive 


APPENDICES  291 

or  judicial  archives,  be  the  latter  in  Spain  or  in 
the  islands  aforesaid. 

Article  IX.  Spanish  subjects,  natives  of  the 
Peninsula,  residing  in  the  territory  over  which 
Spain  by  the  present  treaty  relinquishes  or  cedes 
her  sovereignty,  may  remain  in  such  territory  or 
may  remove  therefrom,  retaining  in  either  event 
all  their  rights  of  property,  including  the  right 
to  sell  or  dispose  of  such  property  or  of  its  pro- 
ceeds ;  and  they  shall  also  have  the  right  to  carry 
on  their  industry,  commerce,  and  professions,  be- 
ing subject  in  respect  thereof  to  such  laws  as  are 
applicable  to  other  foreigners.  In  case  they  re- 
main in  the  territory  they  may  preserve  their 
allegiance  to  the  Crown  of  Spain  by  making,  be- 
fore a  court  of  record,  within  a  year  from  the 
date  of  the  exchange  of  ratifications  of  this  treaty, 
a  declaration  of  their  decision  to  preserve  such 
allegiance;  in  default  of  which  declaration  they 
shall  be  held  to  have  renounced  it  and  to  have 
adopted  the  nationality  of  the  territory  in  which 
they  may  reside. 

The  civil  rights  and  political  status  of  the  native 
inhabitants  of  the  territories  hereby  ceded  to 
the  United  States  shall  be  determined  by  the 
Congress. 

Article  X.  The  inhabitants  of  the  territories 
over  which  Spain  relinquishes  or  cedes  her  sov- 
ereignty shaU  be  secured  in  the  free  exercise  of 
their  religion. 

Article  XI.  The  Spaniards  residing  in  the  terri- 
tories over  which  Spain  by  this  treaty  cedes  or 
relinquishes  her  sovereignty  shall  be  subject  in 
matters  civil  as  weU  as  criminal  to  the  jurisdic- 


292  PKOBLEMS  O*'  EXPANSION 

tion  of  the  courts  of  the  country  wherein  they  re- 
side, pursuant  to  the  ordinary  laws  governing  the 
same ;  and  they  shall  have  the  right  to  appear  be- 
fore such  courts  and  to  pursue  the  same  course  as 
citizens  of  the  country  to  which  the  courts  belong. 

Article  XII.  Judicial  proceedings  pending  at 
the  time  of  the  exchange  of  ratifications  of  this 
treaty  in  the  territories  over  which  Spain  relin- 
quishes or  cedes  her  sovereignty  shall  be  deter- 
mined according  to  the  following  rules: 

First.  Judgments  rendered  either  in  civil  suits 
between  private  individuals  or  in  criminal  matters, 
before  the  date  mentioned,  and  with  respect  to 
which  there  is  no  recourse  or  right  of  review  un- 
der the  Spanish  law,  shall  be  deemed  to  be  final, 
and  shall  be  executed  in  due  form  by  competent 
authority  in  the  territory  within  which  such 
judgments  should  be  carried  out. 

Second.  Civil  suits  between  private  individuals 
which  may  on  the  date  mentioned  be  undetermined 
shall  be  prosecuted  to  judgment  before  the  court 
in  which  they  may  then  be  pending,  or  in  the 
court  that  may  be  substituted  therefor. 

Third.  Criminal  actions  pending  on  the  date 
mentioned  before  the  Supreme  Court  of  Spain 
against  citizens  of  the  territory  which  by  this 
treaty  ceases  to  be  Spanish  shall  continue  under 
its  jurisdiction  until  final  judgment;  but,  such 
judgment  having  been  rendered,  the  execution 
thereof  shall  be  committed  to  the  competent 
authority  of  the  place  in  which  the  case  arose. 

Article  XIII.  The  rights  of  property  secured 
by  copyrights  and  patents  acquired  by  Spaniards 
in  the  island  of  Cuba,  and  in  Porto  Rico,  the  Phil- 


APPENDICES  293 

ippines,  and  other  ceded  territorieSj  at  the  time  of 
the  exchange  of  the  ratifications  of  this  treaty, 
shall  continue  to  be  respected.  Spanish  scientific, 
literary,  and  artistic  works  not  subversive  of  public 
order  in  tlie  territories  in  question  shall  continue 
to  be  admitted  free  of  duty  into  such  territories 
for  the  period  of  ten  years,  to  be  reckoned  from 
the  date  of  the  exchange  of  the  ratifications  of 
this  treaty. 

Article  XIV.  Spain  shall  have  the  power  to 
establish  consular  officers  in  the  ports  and  places 
of  the  territories  the  sovereignty  over  which  has 
either  been  relinquished  or  ceded  by  the  present 
treaty. 

Article  XV.  The  Government  of  each  country 
will,  for  the  term  of  ten  years,  accord  to  the  mer- 
chant-vessels of  the  other  country  the  same  treat- 
ment in  respect  to  all  port  charges,  including  en- 
trance and  clearance  dues,  light  dues  and  tonnage 
duties,  as  it  accords  to  its  own  merchant-vessels 
not  engaged  in  the  coastwise  trade. 

This  article  may  at  any  time  be  terminated  on 
six  months'  notice  given  by  either  Grovernment  to 
the  other. 

Article  XVI.  It  is  understood  that  any  obliga- 
tions assumed  in  this  treaty  by  the  United  States 
with  respect  to  Cuba  are  limited  to  the  time  of  its 
occupancy  thereof  j  but  it  will,  upon  the  termina- 
tion of  such  occupancy,  advise  any  Grovernment 
established  in  the  island  to  assume  the  same 
obligations. 

Article  XVII.  The  present  treaty  shall  be  rati- 
fied by  the  President  of  the  United  States,  by  and 
with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate  thereof, 


294  PROBLEMS  OF  EXPANSION 

and  by  Her  Majesty  the  Queen  Regent  of  Spain ; 
and  the  ratifications  shall  be  exchanged  at  Wash- 
ington within  six  months  from  the  date  hereof,  or 
earlier  if  possible. 

In  faith  whereof  we,  the  respective  plenipoten- 
tiaries, have  signed  this  treaty  and  have  hereunto 
affixed  our  seals. 

Done  in  duplicate  at  Paris,  the  tenth  day  of 
December,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand 
eight  hundred  and  ninety-eight. 

(Seal)  William  R.  Day. 

(Seal)  CusHMAN  K.  Davis. 

(Seal)  William  P.  Frye. 

(Seal)  George  Gray. 

(Seal)  Whitelaw  Reid. 

(Seal)  EuGENio  Montero  Rios. 

(Seal)  B.  de  Abarzuza. 

(Seal)  J.  DE  Garnica. 

(Seal)  W.  R.  de  Villa  Urrutia. 

(Seal)  Rafael  Cerebo. 


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